Kevin&Stephanie

Holiday Highlights

2012-01-03T19:07:00.001-08:00

The holidays are over, and now I'm finally getting around to posting about them! We had a succession of many parties, which were both fun and exhausting! Kevin's parents and sister came over on December 22, and we opened presents the next morning.

Aundrea really wasn't that interested in opening presents. She was more interested in drinking hot chocolate!

...and in riding Otto

After I worked all night Christmas Eve (and the night before), we went to church on Christmas morning, and then straight to my parents' house, along with a packed car and our dog.

My beautiful mother and sister with Aundrea

For some unknown reason, the guys decided to do a moustache Christmas.

Tracie, Mom, Aundrea and me

Tracie bought Aundrea dress-up stuff, which she LOVES!She also really loves the fleece jacket I bought Tracie.

On December 26, we drove down to Indiana to spend time with the Anderson family. We had a nice Amish-made lunch on the 27th.

Aundrea laughs at Grandpa (see the finger...)

These cute little Amish girls were very interested in Aundrea.

After our HUGE, delicious lunch, we went to Mark and Marla's house for presents.

Grace, Otto, Grandma, Sadie, Grandpa, Dad and Kevin

I worked another 3 shifts Dec. 29-31, and then I hosted the 2nd annual DeBoer girl cousins sleep-over party on Jan 1-2. We did a fancy, dress-up dinner (made by me), and then had fun in our pajamas.

Faith

Jordan

Brianna

Ellisa

The food preparation was extensive, and as usual, took much longer than expected. Our menu : wildest rice soup, roasted chicken, meatballs, mashed potatoes en croute, glazed carrots, green beans, rolls, sparkling juice, and chocolate cheesecake (made by Tracie). It was good, but we had a LOT of leftovers!

I bought myself a petticoat to wear under the Christmas skirt I made (see what I was wearing on Christmas). I love it!!! This thing has amazing twirl power!

The girls had fun on our bed.

and here's a picture of Aundrea playing with her farm animals

Christmas tree

2011-12-11T20:07:00.001-08:00

We went to Horrocks tree farm in Ionia to cut down a Christmas tree a little over a week ago. Aundrea enjoyed tromping around in the snow, although she falls down a lot in her puffy jacket and snow boots. After carefully selecting our 9 1/2 foot tall Blue Spruce, Kevin cut it down with his chain saw.

We decorate while Aundrea was taking a nap last Sunday. She received it with much enthusiasm. This picture is just pure joy. :)

Aundrea loves to remove the little bells and put them back on, but other than that she hasn't been too much trouble around the Christmas tree (much to our surprise and relief!).

gnome-fairy-princess

2011-10-31T20:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween and Reformation Day! We didn't actually do a whole lot, but Aundrea had fun playing in different costumes.
Last Thurday we took Aundrea to Ionia's little Halloween event. It was basically trick-or-treating in downtown shops, games, and lots of chili dogs. Aundrea was a garden gnome, and we went in our medieval costumes. We felt a little silly, because very few of the adults were in costumes.....oh well. Many young boys looked envious of Kevin sword in his back-scabbard.
Aundrea is a cute gnome

Riding her horse - a gift from Grandpa and Grandma Anderson.
Fairy
....and a princess. Did I mention she loves her horse? She likes the real ones too. :)

We had a big bowl full of candy (good candy, too!) and 0 trick-or-treaters. Guess who's eating the chocolate instead?

Nap time

2011-10-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

I had no idea Aundrea did this, but Kevin captured it on camera. SO sweet. :)

Walnuts

2011-10-11T20:04:00.001-07:00

It has been a lovely autumn so far here in West Michigan. The weather for the past week has been truly amazing. As you can see, we're dressed more for summer than fall lately.
Despite the summery weather, it definitely is fall. I have attempted to decorate seasonally by displaying some of our corn stalks and pumpkins. Our mums are huge and bright. The bad thing is, our numerous walnut trees have been dropping absurd amounts of walnuts at all hours of the day or night. The thunk of a walnut hitting the roof has been known to wake us up at night! The walnuts laying all over the ground also present more than a little fall hazard.

This is what walnuts look like when they come off the tree:

This wheelbarrow-full is only a small portion of what's left!

Aundrea sometimes helps pick up walnuts....(do you see all those walnuts on the ground around her?)

Aundrea also loves climbing onto the lawn-mower (parked, of course)

Last night we "shelled" some walnuts (we took the green stuff off), washed them, and put them in a mesh sack to dry. I'm going to try to use some of them, because otherwise it seems so wasteful! If anyone wants walnuts, come and get 'em - free! ;)

September evening

2011-09-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Just some fun shots of Aundrea and Ein (garden in background).

life goes on

2011-09-04T19:25:00.001-07:00

Life's been pretty steady this summer. It's been pleasant, but nothing too exciting to share, so here's a bunch of randomness...

Aundrea really likes her baths. She doesn't ever want to get out, even when all the water is gone.

She is climbing all over the furniture, and is extremely active.
We went to Ludington and camped with Kevin's family for a few days. Aundrea enjoyed flinging sand all over.

We tried to go to the Ionia Free Fair again this year, but we walked over and discovered it had been shut down early, due to flooding.

Aundrea continues to have a big-time sweet tooth, and LOVEs licking beaters/mixers. Yes, I know raw eggs are a danger, but let the kid live a little!

nothing better than a face full of brownie batter!

Here's a picture of our resident woodchuck in our driveway. His life is safe thus far, but if he digs into the garden, it's over!

Aundrea really enjoys technology - particularly phones. She has her own blackberry (broken), and we don't even have a cell phone (0ther than our pay-as-you-go simple phone for emergencies!)

The last sunday in August, we finally celebrated Aundrea's birthday with the VerMerris side of the family (along with Tracie, Elijah, Kevin VM, TJ and Jenn's birthdays).

Keaton and Aundrea were cute on the swing together.

Aundrea got her first experience swimming in a pool. She liked it, but the air wasn't very warm, so she got chilly quick.

That same Sunday, after the party, we drove to Kevin's parents' home in Erie,PA. While there, we visited Wintergreen Gorge again. It was beautiful, but I slipped and hurt myself (and got wet), so that kinda put a damper on the experience. Worn out flip flops + wet, slimy slate rock in the river = bad news.

Here I am climbing a rope up a small waterfall

It's called a gorge for a reason....

Kevin and I took a side-trip along a contributing stream, while Aundrea played in the water with Grandma

Back at home, Aundrea models the dress that Grandma Anderson made for her birthday. She got a lot of compliments at church in that dress today!

Yes, and in case you didn't know, Aundrea is walking well now. She still falls a lot, but she doesn't seem to mind.

a belated birthday post

2011-07-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

On July 7, we celebrated Aundrea's first birthday! We can hardly believe our baby is a year old! We celebrated with lots of family and cake!

Kevin's parents stayed at our place for a few days, and Aundrea's great-grandparents on the Anderson side stopped by to visit on her birthday.
I (Stephanie) made a mini cake and cupcakes for Aundrea's actual birthday. The big cake was yet to come....
Aundrea couldn't blow the candle out, but she enjoyed looking at it.

After a brief contemplation, Aundrea decided to attack her cake face-first.

An unfortunate side-effect of this method was frosting up the nose!

She thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless

When she'd had enough of eating cake, Aundrea took to painting with it

and sharing it with Otto.

Licking the beaters 2 days later, while Mommy made the big cake.

Aundrea thinks it's fun to share and "feed" us. We'll see how long that lasts.

On Sunday, July 10 we hosted a joint birthday party for Aundrea and [my sister] Tracie.

Pretty birthday girls...

Aundrea was surprisingly interested in her cards

opening a tutu from Great Grandpa and Grandma Johnson - I look everyone's smiles

Surrounded by her loot, Aundrea eyes her pink chocolate birthday lollipop from Grandpa and Grandma Anderson.

The pouf factor - thought it would be fun to add the tutu/petticoat under Aundrea's already pouffy dress :)

The big birthday cake - yellow cake with Raspberry buttercream frosting and raspberry jam filling - yum!

Tracie's turn:

Murder Mystery Dinner

2011-07-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

It's July 20, 1969 and a group of groovy cats have been invited to hang out with hippie superstar Hedda Leiss as she prepares to go on a cross-country psychedelic bus trip to the long awaited Beefstock concert...

But then, as Neil Armstrong prepares to step on the moon, a blast rips through Hedda's tour bus. Hedda has been murdered! So which one of the psychedelic hipsters chillin' and lovin' at Hedda's pad was responsible for the dastardly deed? Meet the suspects:

Juan Stepford Mann (A.K.A. Kyle Rosander): An 'astronaut and supposedly one of NASA's golden boys. A decorated Air Force major, he's bound for the moon on one of the next Apollo missions because he's got the right stuff...or so he'd like us to believe. He's been Burnette DeBrah's escort for several months. He doesn't really get the whole hippie movement, but he is 'largely' welcome when it comes to love-ins, and is known on the circuit as Apollo 13 and Rocket Man.

Burnette DeBrah (A.K.A. Sarah Schreiber): A celebrated activist and leader of the women's liberation movement. Founder of the "Bras Across America" campaign, in which thousands of women from coast to coast hooked together their brassieres and set them aflame, made her a household name. Since then she has been a rising political star, challenging the congressional 'old boys club' with a bid for the Senate this coming November. Many think she is likely to win. Although a few years older than the "Now Generation", the hippies consider her a groovy, tuned-in chick.

Like any good politician, Burnette was all too eager to pose for the camera with a cute baby. Pundits estimate that the cuteness factor of this baby instantaneously raised her approval rating 2.93 percent.

Nate Ashbury (A.K.A. Ryan Schreiber): a student body president at U.C. Burpley, Nate is the upstart student activist who masterminded the recent rally on Washing D.C. that packed millions of naked students onto the Mall. Born to one of the nation's wealthiest families, he's rejected his privileged upbringing and uses his family fortune to fund protest rallies. He inspires students around the nation with speeches on peace, free love and tax shelters.

Phillip Mabong (A.K.A. Nate Wiersma): A successful record producer and celebrated playboy, Phillip is the founder of the wildly successful C.T.&A. Records. Best known for producing the immortal ode to the road "Born to be Vile" by Steppencrap. A hedonist of the highest order, he has embraced the hippie movement and only produces music with messages of peace, love and chemical enlightenment. It is Phillip who made Hedda Leiss the most successful artist of the decade.

Reina Terra (A.K.A. Tracie Wiersma): A frequent in hippie circles, Reina is rumored to be the founder of the "low-fee love" movement. And, baby, that's no small exaggeration. She also single-handedly pioneered the occupation of rock star 'groupie'. Over the past few years, she's traveled with many popular C.T&A. bands - including The Tyrds, The Strolling Bones, and even The Crateful O'Dead. She gained notoriety after having a love child with flamboyant rock star Nick Jaguar. She is one of Hedda Leiss's closest friends.

Jamaica Bomblast (A.K.A. Derek VerMerris): Jamaica is a Rastararian party boy whose dreadlocks, laid back attitude and fun loving personality have made him the life of every party. Wherever he goes, the most wonderful things miraculously happen. Everyone considers him a 'good luck' charm. Hedda swears by his 'herbal' remedies for everything from hangnails to hangovers.

Enya Goddard-Daveeda (A.K.A. Stephanie Anderson): Enya, a former debutante and Miss Wisconsin winner. She was voted Miss Congeniality and was the first runner-up in last year's Miss America Pageant. An unfortunate incident, in which Enya bludgeoned the winner, Miss Hawaii, with her own crown, resulted in her disqualification. After that Enya took a sudden interest in the music of Hedda Leiss, and began a long, wild fall into rock counter-culture. Hedda introduced Enya to the Church of the Vacant Mind where Timothy Bleary took her under his wing. Her position as High Priestess of Love has earned her more adoring fans than she could have ever hoped for.

Timothy Bleary (A.K.A. Kevin Anderson): Timothy is the quintessential mind-expansionist guru and, until today, Hedda's trusted spiritual adviser. Although beginning as a humble florist, Timothy soon became famous for his counter-culture writings and that now famous phrase "Tune in, Turn on, and Put out." As his following grew, he founded the Church of the Vacant Mind. Now his disciples are often seen selling his floral arrangements at street corners and airports. Church membership as recently multiplied in amazing proportions. All new members donate everything they own to 'the church'. In return, they are freed from their ties to material possessions, and are encouraged to disperse bouquets of love and peace to the unenlightened.

Unknown hippie love child (A.K.A. Aundrea Anderson).

The other unknown hippie love child in attendance (A.K.A. Friedrick...A.K.A. Freddie).

The group photos, taken before they realized they were all murder suspects!

The two love children lovin' on each other.

SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON EVERY DOING THIS MURDER MYSTERY, READ NO FURTHER!

Alas, it was Timothy Bleary who proved to be the guilty party. He seemed like such an honest, stand-up, and, dare I say, dashing individual. Despite this downer, the party was a ton of fun. Derek (Jamaica) was a last minute stand in for someone who, unfortunately, had to back out...and he did a fantastic job. Kudos to him, and thanks to everyone else who came and participated. We will most definitely be doing a Murder Mystery again!

First Anderson Family Road Trip!!

2011-06-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, May 29, Stephanie and I set out on our first 'vacation' as a family. An epic road trip, of epical magnitude.

It started out benign enough. After church on Sunday (at which service my name was drawn out of a hat for deaconship...it is rather frightening that I'm old enough to be a deacon...) we drove to my parents place in Erie, PA. There we spent Memorial Day at Presque Isle state park, just relaxing...well...Stephanie, Aundrea and my mom relaxed. Dad kept busy keeping Otto entertained, and I spent the entire time hunting for beach glass.

While at my parents place, we learned that Aundrea is quite proficient at climbing stairs. She climbed all the way to the top on her first try, and required very little help climbing back down! It is also frightening how quickly she is growing up...

It might be hard to see, but this is my mother's shrine to Aundrea. There is not a single picture on that refrigerator that does not have Aundrea in it. I don't think Marcie (my sister) is on that fridge (But I bet she would be if there were a picture of her holding Aundrea).

Tuesday we headed down to Ohiopyle, which, contrary to logical presumptions, is in Pennsylvania. Dad had to work, but Mom joined us for this leg of the journey so that we could tour FallingWaters, one of the more famous Frank Lloyd Wright designs (Children under the age of six are not permitted on the tour).

It was a really cool house, and I did like how Frankie (can I call him that?) worked the natural landscape into the design of the house, but those brown parts are actually just concrete covered in stucco, which I didn't find particularly aesthetically pleasing. Perhaps because it reminded me of our cheap, ghetto apartment out in California.

After the tour we headed to our cabin at the Ohiopyle State Park campground, and then did a bit of hiking just to see some of the sights.

It appears that we may have done a bit too much hiking for the elderly grandma along.

But we discovered that Aundrea greatly loves to splash in the water. She is her father's daughter. (It was also at this spot that my mother tragically dropped her camera into the river. It started working again once she got home, but for those of you who know my mother, the camera nazi, being deprived of it in the presence of her grandchild doing cute things, or in the absence of cute things, doing anything at all, was torture for her)

The next day (Wednesday) Steph and I decided to once again take advantage of my mom's presence (re: babysitter) in order to do some white water rafting. We certainly didn't realize it at the time, but Ohiopyle has some fantastic rafting. We did the lower river which had a bunch of category threes, and several category fours, but if you're more adventurous, the upper river is pretty much all fives.

My mom was sitting on top of a bridge to take some pictures as we went by. Go figure, this is the set of rapids where I fell out. Also go figure, despite my mom not knowing which raft we were in, she managed to get full documentation of the drama. Thankfully I wasn't the only person to do so, but I was still quite embarrassed.

So here we are, rafting along all fun like. We're the top raft. You can kinda see my yellow shirt in the back corner of the raft (Sorry for the poor image quality...I zoomed in as much as I could in photoshop, but as Blogger naturally downsizes the image, it's still kinda hard to see).

In this picture you can see everyone in the raft leaning over to help someone back into the raft. Yeah...that's me.

And here you can see that, apart from one leg, I'm mostly back in. I have to salute our raft guide, Missy, who somehow managed to grab my ankle before I had even completely fallen out of the raft. To be honest, I don't even know how it happened. One moment I was paddling, the next I was in the water. Oh well, I figure I just got the 'full experience' of rafting.

Steph and I both had a blast doing it...and it certainly fed my already potent desire to get a Kayak...although if I do get one, I won't be tackling any category 4 rapids any time soon!

After our rafting adventure, we went to a nearby tributary of the Ohiopyle River and rode the 'natural water slide'. Not as thrilling as white water rafting, but still a lot of fun, and much cheaper.

There were three levels to the slide, the last of which I only did once as it throws you into some nasty rocks, but the first two levels were great.

This is another picture that I took into Photoshop and zoomed in on. Perhaps my favorite picture of Stephanie from this entire trip!

After the water slide, we stopped by Cucumber Falls (it was great, all of this, the rafting, the slide, Cucumber Falls, were all within just two or three miles of each other).

Don't I look all Zenny and peaceful? WELL I'M NOT! THAT WATER HURTS!!!

Ah, my genius looking vampire baby...

After Cucumber Falls we went to Ohiopyle Falls.

Not super tall (only 15 feet) but still pretty dramatic.

There's a future astrophysicist in there somewhere...as long as vampires can be astrophysicists.

We got this fancy hiking baby carrier for Aundrea...man that thing was great. It made her (relatively) easy to carry, and she loved it too. Never once did she complain while in that thing. In fact, when we hiked with her in that proved to be the one time of the day we could reliably get her to sleep (yeah...very rarely did she sleep in the car seat............................................)

The falls from the other side of the river.

The entire time we were there, we were looking for this place that our state parks book said was great for watching the sunset at. We never did find it, but we did find this nice overlook in the search.

The next day, Thursday, we parted ways with my mom. She headed back to Erie, with a few shopping stops on the way, while we drove to Shenandoah National Park, where we spent the rest of the day.

To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with Shenandoah. It was one of the least exciting National Parks I've been to. The two ways I can see it being worth the entry cost is A) you're going in the fall when all the trees are changing or B) you're old and feeble and want a park where you can see pretty much everything there is to see from your car. But even there, the I liked the Blue Ridge Parkway MUCH more, and that was free...soooo...yeah. Skip it.

Pretty much the only thing we did besides pull over and look at scenic overpasses (which all start to look the same after a while) was to hike down to this cool, multi-level waterfall. Unfortunately all the trees made it difficult to get a picture of it that did it justice.

So this was kinda crazy. The last few miles of the park, we were stopped for about 20 minutes while a wrecker recovered a car that had gone over a cliff earlier in the day. Unfortunately (I just verified it with a Google search) the 53 year old woman driving the car died.

But the day ends on a good note! We stayed at the Afton Mountain Bed and Breakfast. Our hosts were very kind, and it was a really cool house.

Our hosts recommended Blue Mountain Brewery for dinner, advice which I am very thankful that we heeded. We got the Black and Blue pizza, which was sausage and feta cheese, and it packed a punch! The sauce was unlike any pizza sauce I've ever had before, and yet the flavor was nagging familiar. It wasn't until the last slice or two that I finally placed it. The sauce either was, or had in it, red curry! It sounds pretty strange, but that was quite possibly the best pizza I've ever had. They also had one of the best beers I've ever had. It was called "Dark Hollows". It's aged in oak bourbon barrels, so it has a hint of bourbon flavoring, and a unique touch from the oak barrels. DE-LIC-IOUS!

The next day we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Which was gorgeous. And fun. But we'll get to that later (the fun, that is, we'll get right to the Blue Ridge Parkway...as should be made obvious by the sign in the picture below).

Unfortunately we just missed seeing it in action, but one of our stops was at this little Olde Tyme villages. I guess they took a bunch of the original buildings and put this place together to show what life was like in the Appalachian mountains in the time of early settlers.

That night we stayed at the Blue Ridge Bed and Breakfast. To be frank, this was a far cry from the B&Bs Steph and I have stayed in thus far. It was a fairly modest house, and didn't seem particularly suited to be a B&B (awkward room layout). As Steph said, it was more like just staying in someone's house. I also think that it was more geared towards the biker crowed (which there were a lot of on the Parkway!). Pool table, bar, 80's rock and roll playing in the living room...that sort of thing. But what it lacked in grandeur it made up for in the hosts being really nice people (I'm talking with the main host on the porch in this picture). Also, the breakfast was a bounteous feast of deliciousness.

Spectacular views.

I told Kyle (childhood friend) that someday we were going to bike the Blue Ridge Parkway. Now I just need a road bike.

We stopped briefly at an old plantation manor turned hoity toity craft store. Steph was excited to see horses. They had nothing to do with the house, but the plantation owner's hobby was building roads (how weird is that?), and built something obscene like 1500 miles worth of carriage roads on his estate(almost as obscene as having an estate with 3,600 acres!). These local people ride their horses on these old carriage roads most Saturdays. With views like this, I might even ride frequently.

And the house. Man would I ever love a house like that....

And the view that comes with it (this is basically looking out from the porch above).

Steph got a pair of copper earrings, and we got a print for Aundrea's Nursery, but overall the prices were steep. This quilt was only about 2 ft.^2 0.0

And some more pictures of the prettiness.

Our vampire baby sucking the life out of a banana. Go figure, she doesn't really like bananas unless she can eat the skin too...gross.

But while we were stopped here picnicking, a lady started talking to us, asking us how we liked our Mazda 3 (Love it!). She had a Mazda 5. Well, she left, and then came back bearing gifts for Aundrea. You can see she is quite pleased with them (A fish that 'swims' when you pull a string, and a sand bucket with shovel). Now there is some southern hospitality! And her parting words to us: zoom-zoom. Hahahaha! My kind of lady.

It was actually that ladies comment that inspired me to do this:

I'm not going to lie, I was driving like a bit of a maniac. Those twisty-turny roads were just too fun to pass up. At one point, two touring cycles passed me (and I was already going about 10-15 mph over), so I vowed that I was going to keep up with them. Much to my surprise I did. Let me tell you, my Mazda is boss. Until traveling on this road, I never knew just how good that thing handles...I was zipping around turns effortlessly, and with those massive brakes, I never had any trouble slowing down when an unexpectedly sharp turn appeared in the road ahead. Plus it has pretty good pick-up. The only slight problem is that there were plenty of people who did not share my enthusiasm for speed, and I always felt like kinda a jerk for passing them. By writing that into the dust on the back of my car, I felt like I was offering those I passed a small justification for my erratic driving. Or perhaps it made me seem like more of a jerk? I don't know...but boy did I have fun.

Our next stop was an apple orchard that was over 100 years old. Not a whole lot to do there seeing as it's not apple season, but they were having some Appalachia culture festival. You should've seen the old timers get up and tap dance to the music.

Our next stop proved to be my favorite hike of the trip. It was beautiful. All of it. It was a pretty rough trail...very steep and rocky, but it was worth every step.

The mountain laurels were blooming everywhere, as well as several other beautiful flowers (didn't include pictures of all of them).

And then the waterfall at the bottom of the gorge was spectacular. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the falls off the top of my head...Steph will probably be able to add it later.

I loved this random tree that was growing in the middle of the stream, on boulders, at the base of the falls. Too cool.

Like I said, Aundrea rarely slept in the car seat, but in the backpack...lights out!

This is the highest point east of the Mississippi. We didn't take the half mile trail to the actual peak...we figured this was good enough (it was late, Aundrea was getting fussy, and we were tired).

We ate dinner at the restaurant just a little ways down the road from the peak. It offered a spectacular view...and the prices were actually quite reasonable.

That night, just before we exited the parkway, someone was stopped in front of us. We couldn't figure out why until we were driving past...then Steph saw the black bear. So we turned around and shamelessly parked in the middle of the road just as the previous car had. Unfortunately, it was dark so it was hard to get a good picture of it.

That night we stayed at a total "Dead Hooker In The Bathroom" motel. Oh man. The bad side of town, dumpy...I literally got out of bed about 5 times to peek out the window and make sure our car was still there (there was a lot of commotion outside).

Yes, this is an actual picture of the comforter. Bleeagahsdg.

And lets not forget the classy artwork....

The next day we went to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

First pictures are of the third highest peak south of the Mississippi (we had already gone to the first two).

But, how ironic, the view was a little...dare I say 'smokey'?

We then hiked on about 1/5th of a mile of the Appalachian trail. This is something Steph wanted to do, just so she could say she did it. So yes! We bravely hiked a small fraction of a mile of a trail that is over 2200 miles long! Go us!

Our stop for lunch.

Our difficult hike for the day. For the most part the weather was really nice, mostly because we were at such a high elevation that it never got too hot. But this hike was hot. My guess would be high 80s, with a very high humidity.

Cool little natural arch at the end of the hike (or at least where we turned around).

Our last hike of the day. This was a nature trail through 'virgin' forest. Steph and I were expecting a black bear to jump out and eat us at any moment. It just seemed like the perfect bear habitat.

As soon as...and I mean the FOOT that the Great Smokey Mountain's National Park ends, Gatlinburg begins. Now remember, I spent a good portion of my adolescence in Virginia Beach, VA, a tourist trap by any definition. My word, Gatlinburg made Va Beach look like a puritan settlement. If it was touristy, they had it: TWO Ripley's museums, a Guinness museum, a Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co., a Hard Rock Cafe, five, yes FIVE (that we saw, there may have been more), Olde Time Photo stores (I mean, seriously, how many old fashioned photo boutiques can one town support?!?), and about a billion other random touristy stores selling trash that no one would ever buy in their hometown, but apparently are all to happy to buy when they're on vacation.

Our next stop was Cumberland Falls, but Steph noticed that, on the map, no more than 20 miles from Cumberland was a little state park. So off we went! It was actually a really cool place.

Something that I struggle with in taking pictures is perspective. Sometimes it is really hard for me to put what I'm taking a picture of into perspective. This is one of those. This cave was huge...but none of the pictures really show that. This was the best I could do The backpack is sitting directly below the entrance, and if you look carefully, you can just make Steph out (If the backpack is the center of a clock, Steph is at 1:00ish)

Here are some random strangers whom I took pictures of, again to try to put things into perspective.

This cliff was on a hike on the other side of the road (so not the same as the pictures above).

Aundrea loved to steal my sunglasses. If I was carrying her, off the went. You will notice in that picture that one of the rubber ear pieces is missing. They are both now gone.

Another hike at this park was this one, which took us to Crystal Falls. Small, but very pretty.

Sometimes when I got tired, we let Aundrea take a turn at the wheel. If you thought I was a crazy driver...phaw...

So remember when I said that according to the map Pickett State Park was just a hop, skip and jump away from Cumberland Falls? Yeah. Not so much. Or if it is, there aren't any roads that conveniently link the two. Have you all seen the episode of the office where Michael Scott follows the GPS into the lake? This was kinda like that. It took us on a dirt road...and the whole time I'm having flashbacks to the Seattle Road Trip I took with Wojo, Liz and Scholma, where we followed the GPS and ended up having to get out of the car and clear boulders off of the never used forest road...which conveniently only had "Not For Public Use" signs at the other end of the road. Was it as bad as that? Yes and no. Did I have to get out and clear boulders off the road? No. Were there hills so steep that I had to take a speedy start, and still almost didn't make it up? Yes. Were there ravines in the road that had me scared a wheel was going to fall off? Yes. Did I fear that if we did get stranded we were going to be eaten by inbred cannibalistic hillbillies? Absolutely. Well, 10 miles or so of that, and we finally got back to pavement...such a blessing. Alas, the only picture Steph took was of a VERY tame segment of it.

Cumberland Falls was nice, but we were too hot and tired to really do much. We got out, checked it out (there's really no point where you get a great view of the falls unfortunately), and then headed on.

I thought these butterflies were pretty. Ain't I all sensitive and whatnot?

We ate dinner at a resteraunt at the top of the hill from the falls. It had a great view of the river below, and had some bird feeders, so there were lots of cool birds right out the window. Then, halfway through the dinner, I look outside and we have this little guy about four feet from where we sat, scavenging the birdseed.

Aundrea was quite fascinated with this large creature. It, in turn, ignored her.

Then we got to the final stop of our journey. Red River Gorge, where we were going to meet up with Nate (brother-in-law) and Derek (brother-in-law). Unbeknownst to me, Red River Gorge is one of the top rock climbing places in the world, and Nathan is an avid climber. So Steph was going to head back to MI, while the Brothers had some man time.

The Nada Tunnel. Pretty cool, although it's one lane nature was somewhat disconcerting.

We got there Monday, and we weren't expecting Nate and Derek until Tuesday evening, so after a more relaxing Monday night, Steph and I went to the Natural Bridge State Recreation Area in the morning.

We took the trail up to balancing rock...which we found out when we got back was the opposite way you're supposed to go, as the Balancing Rock trail was all steps. And it was 95. And humid.

This is balancing rock...and a cool tree growing next to it.

This is the view standing on top of the natural arch.

And this is a picture of natural arch standing on what is shown in the previous picture. With all the trees, you'd never even guess it was an arch.

But this proves it.
This is the 'original' path built by the railroad company that originally owned this land. Steph and I were quite curious as to what would happen should a more 'heavyset' individual take this trail.

Steph and I were eating lunch and looking forward to a nice afternoon nap in our A/C cabin when Nate and Derek arrived unexpectedly early. After getting things situated and relaxing for a bit, we did some climbing that afternoon.

A few general notes on climbing:
1) Nate is a beast. He climbed the route to set the rope up, and then after Derek and I climbed the route (and often helping us get past some challenging parts), he climbed it again and took the route down. On top of climbing every route twice, the hard way, he climbed one more challenging route that Derek and I didn't climb. And he climbed these routes with the grace of a mountain goat.
2) I thought I was going to kick Dereks butt at this, but, on some routes, he definitely out climbed me. Way to go Derek.
3) I have never received such a total body workout.

Nate actually talked Steph into climbing the first route, and despite some hesitation, and with some help from Nate, Steph got to the top! (That's her(or at least her butt) below)

Some of the other routes we climbed.

When we were too tired, or it was too hot (it was in the 90s every day we were there) we practiced our 'slack lining' (Think tight-rope). This is also something that Nate was exceptionally good at...walking all the way across, and then coming back across backwards, and all sorts of other crazy moves. I am proud to say that by the end of our time in Kentucky, I did manage to get 2/3rds of the way across, but alas I never made it all the way across.

Derek was a little kamikaze in his slack lining approach. When he would start to lose his balance, he would just start stumbling forward, attempting to get as many steps in as quickly as possible. This led to some hysterical dismounts. Both Nate and I were amazed that he managed to escape these often awkward dismounts relatively unscathed.

And this is me after Derek took my camera one to many times and took three or four quick succession pictures of absolutely nothing in particular.

And this...this is a source of both pride and shame. In climbing, as I understand it, difficulty is rated from 5.5 (super easy) to 5.14 (suuuuper hard). You will notice in the picture below a red circle. This was the start of our route. It was rated 5.7, so basically pretty easy. Derek got it no problem. I could not, for the life of me, get up this stupid thing. I had tried six or seven times, I was tired, sweaty, and angry. So Nate said: "Get off the line and take a break. I'll climb it and you can try again when you're more rested." I started to detach myself from the line, and then had a change of heart.
"Put it back on Nate, I'm going to try something stupid."
Now if you will look once more at the picture, you will see a red arrow pointing to a three or four foot overhang about 8 ft. off the ground. This was a 5.10 start, so fairly difficult. I decided I was going to try that one. What made me think that I could do a 5.10 when I couldn't do a 5.7 I have no idea, but I tried, and I got it, first try.

Lesson learned: Being tall certainly has many advantages in climbing. Being tall also has disadvantages when the hand/foot holds are closer together, thus forcing your center of gravity further out, thus making it more difficult to hold on. Also...I suck at climbing.

And the last night there, a mouse was scurrying over our feet by the campfire. Nate, the mighty conqueror, squashed it. The crows were quite boisterous in their thanks that morning.

Just for fun...ANTIQUES!!!

2011-05-06T14:26:00.001-07:00

So it has been a year and some change since we moved into our house. One of the big changes was moving from a tiny 800 sq. ft. apartment in California, to a house that, if you include the finished basement, is 3,500 sq. ft. Apart from restoring this place, we've also been trying to fill it. So I thought it would be fun to go through and show you some of the things we've gotten so far.

Cast iron claw foot tubs. Obviously they're not in use yet, but I bought two claw foot tubs for when we do renovate the bathrooms.

Ironically enough, it was the $50 dollar tub that came with the original hardware.

For whenever we get to the kitchen, a very early 20th c. cast iron stove/oven converted to gas.

Walnut, cherry and mahogany trim pieces (crown, chair, base, paneling etc.). Enough to cover every room in the house several times over.

Oak Eastlake bed with Birdseye maple veneer. This will go in the spare room upstairs once we finish the library and get the boxes of books out of there. I'd like to refinish it in a darker shade, as honey oak is not my thing.

Antique pool table, tiger oak. Maybe somebody can help me out as to what exactly this is, as it only has four pockets. It's not in the basement yet as it is slate and I am not nearly strong enough to move it by myself.

Legs for the pool table.

Oak 'Gothic Revival' chair. Needs to be reupholstered.

Tiger oak Victorian chaise lounge (a.k.a. fainting couch). Needs to be both reupholstered and refinished.

Walnut Eastlake settee. Should be reupholstered as the fabric is ugly, but in good condition.

Walnut Victorian chair.

Antique radio.

Mahogany parlor table.

Walnut parlor table.

Walnut Eastlake parlor table.

Walnut Eastlake parlor table (sister to one above).

Oak Eastlake spoon carved dresser.

Oak Eastlake dresser w/ faux burled walnut paneling.

Here's what it looked like before I refinished it.

Walnut Eastlake dresser with marble top, walnut burl paneling and maple inlay.

Solid mahogany four poster king sized bed with barley twists and claw feet. Not an antique, and definatly a splurge, but we love it. Steph is currently making curtains for it.

Walnut Victorian chest of drawers with walnut burl paneling and columns. One of the more recent purchases. Steph informed me that it is fopa to have two dressers with mirrors in one bedroom. So I could not use some of the other spiffy dressers. But patience paid off. Does need to be refinished.

Walnut Queen Ann Dresser with marble top, walnut burl paneling and columns. While my dresser is a very close second, I believe this to be my finest purchase. This behemoth is almost 8 ft. tall, and is absolutely beautiful.

Walnut Eastlake wardrobe with walnut burl paneling.

And here's what I picked up earlier this week, which I am SUPER excited about. These are 2'x4' tin ceiling panels from a building in Lansing that was being converted into condos. I needed 45 of these in order to do the living room...they had 48 (although two are too rusted to be usable). They're gonna take some work before they're ready to be used, but man is it going to be awesome when it's up!

Erie and Steph's Birthday

2011-04-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

Well, two posts in the same month! You can tell I'm not long term subbing anymore!

First, a few weeks ago Steph and I went to Erie, PA to visit my parents. Not that too many people here probably care, but this is one of the houses that we pass when we go for neighborhood walks. I love it. It has clinker brick (note how the bricks are not in straight lines).

Aundrea enjoys these walks, especially when Grandma starts bouncing her around.

It was kinda wet and rainy while we were there, but we braved the foul weather and went to the Erie Zoo.

They had some animal costumes the kids could wear. Aundrea made a dainty butterfly.

...but she was less than elegant as a horse.

Alas, I didn't get a picture of it, but when we first got to this exhibit, Steph was holding Aundrea right up to the glass, and the mother came right up to Aundrea and kissed the glass closest to her face.

We came back from Erie. This picture has no significance other than I think it's hilarious when Aundrea sleeps like this.

Babies first Easter! He is Risen! (He is Risen Indeed!). Took a picture of my two beautiful ladies in their nice Easter dresses. I took the picture here because I wanted a photo that puts the size of this Walnut tree into perspective (it's right next to our house).

After church we went to the VerMerris's for dinner. As always it was a feast worthy of a king.

Drea loves Tracie. I believe the feeling is reciprocated.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE! For those of you who may not know, April 26 is Steph's Birthday! (And oh boy, this is one birthday that won't be forgotten!). First we went out to lunch with Nate and Tracie at Wolfgang's, a breakfast place in Grand Rapids. Their food is phenomenal. After that Steph and I continued on to Frederik Meijer Gardens. I had never been there before, and Steph wanted to see the butterfly exhibit.

Then, despite the rain, we strolled outside and saw the sights.

(I think Aundrea looks frighteningly devious in this picture)

The horse statue. Arguably what F.M.G. is most famous for.

If you look, you will see that the horse is anatomically correct. I would be interested in finding out if this statue holds the world record for the largest cojones.

Frederik Meijer is my homeboy.

Now, not that what we did previous to this wasn't fun, but here comes what made this birthday entirely unforgettable. After Frederik Meijer Gardens, we headed over to Steph's parents for dinner. As dinner (which was excellent! Thanks again Tracie!) was being prepared, it started to get a bit gusty, and the rain picked up. I went to the window because the trees were swaying back and forth so much that I thought I might see one fall. Well, the wind picked up some more. At this point I noticed that the water in the horse's automatic waterer was blowing out in large quantities.

"Wow...this is quite the squall." I thought to myself.

It was right as that thought flashed through my mind that I saw Derek's 12 ft. rowboat go flying (literally) through the air at about 50 mph. It missed the window I was standing at by no more than 20 ft. Dad, who saw the boat flying through the air from the garage came in and told everyone to get in the basement.

The National Weather Services came out to see if it was a tornado or straight winds. According to them, a category 0 tornado touched down and increased in strength to a category 1. Apparently, sometimes tornados will touch down, then rise back up, touch down, rise back up etc. This one touched down at a landscaping company next to Greg and Janice's house, rose back up as it went over the VerMerris household (Thank you Lord!), and then touched back down across the road, where it proceeded to demolish two turkey barns that Steph's uncle owns.

Aside from a few missing shingles, the only real damage to Steph's parents place was some porch balusters blown down (This baffles me as the wind resistance of these things can't be that significant).

Here's what was left of the tornado when we ventured out of the basement.

Here you can see one of the turkey barns that collapsed

After all the excitement somewhat subsided, we ate and opened presents.

We decided to check out the turkey barns, and ended up helping to herd about 5,000 turkeys from the barn that suffered the most damage (below), to the one that wasn't damaged at all.

There were several casualties.

The Trail of Tears.

And here's Derek's boat. In the background is Steph's parents house, so you can see how far it flew (it had been parked about 30 yards behind the house).

I was amazed at how quickly after the tornado passed that sightseers came out of the woodwork! That road saw more traffic in that evening than it normally does in a year!

So yeah, it's not every birthday that you narrowly escape death. So not a birthday to be forgotten any time soon!

Why hello! Long time no see!

2011-04-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Alright...so we haven't updated in a while. Well, until two or three weeks ago, I had a long term sub job at Hopkins High School teaching World and U.S. History and Government. Hopkins is about an hour from Ionia, so I was gone 12 hours a day, and during the weekend, when I was home, Steph worked and I babysat Aundrea. So life has been pretty uneventful.

But, we know we cannot deny Aundrea's adoring public for long, so here's a quick post with some pictures from the last few months of our darling daughter. I'll try to do them in somewhat chronological order so you can see how she's grown.

So here's Dr. Drea as she first delves into the realm of baby food. She doesn't eat a whole lot of baby food, as she prefers 'adult' food that has more texture to it (oatmeal, toast, just little bits and pieces of what we eat).

Here are Dr. Drea's crew at church. Asher (middle) and Julia (left).

In February my parents came out to visit for a weekend.

Dr. Drea loves animals!

And what's the point of having 11 ft. ceilings if you can't take advantage of that space? MY DAUGHTER WILL LOVE ROLLER COASTERS!! SHE WILL!! Hehehe...I'm making sure of that.

So while my parents were here, we spent hours training Aundrea and Otto to do this Synchronized Faces routine (We were going to take the act on tour...but we didn't want Aundrea turning out like Lindsey Lohan or Hannah Montana). Here's what we got:

*Sigh* As you can see, Aundrea always lost it at the end. Otto clearly grew frustrated with her lack of professionalism.

Some other news is that in the last week Aundrea has learned how to crawl! It was not a painless process. For weeks Aundrea could only utilize reverse, which led to some awkward situations.

But finally, there was success. She is now much more difficult to keep track of. I have also grown amazed by Drea's instinctual ability to recognize what she isn't allowed to play with. It's like a sixth sense. I have dubbed this sixth sense "The Chaoticus Sense"TM.

Steph's Dad had his 25th work anniversary dinner this last week (Congrats again!). We got some balloons. We had fun with the balloons.

Alright. Perhaps Steph will add some more later...but that's it for me. I need to get to bed!

Holiday Highlights and 6month update

2011-01-11T13:49:00.001-08:00

We hope everyone had Happy Holidays! I (Stephanie) worked on all of the actual Holidays, but we still managed to celebrate. A few days before Christmas, I hosted a slumber party for all the girl cousins on the DeBoer side. We had fun doing girly things.

Ellisa, Brianna, Aundrea, Tracie, Faith, Jordan and Katie

Kevin's parents and sister came over Dec. 23 - 24. While I was at work Christmas Eve, they and Kevin and Aundrea went to the Johnson Christmas party in Muskegon. I don't know where Kevin put those pictures or if he forgot to take some......sorry!

After work Sunday morning (Dec. 26) I met Kevin and Aundrea at my parents' house. We went to church with my parents and brother, and afterwards we celebrated Christmas with the family.

Our family picture

Aundrea showed her pleasure in receiving her gifts by chewing on them all!

jammie time...notice Aundrea's pacifier position! Parties are exhausting!

Monday midday, we headed to Indiana to spend time with the Anderson family. We had formal pictures taken, and I couldn't resist taking some of my own.

Aundrea and Otto

We were able to visit our friends Ryan and Sarah while in Indiana. :)

At home again, I discovered that Aundrea could fit in this huge stocking...

New Year's Eve photo op...I think these are just adorable shots of Aundrea :)

Aundrea is 6 months old now. She weighs 15 1/2 lbs and is 27 1/2 inches long. She is truly a joy, and we love her very much.

IT IS FINISHED!!!

2010-12-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

So after 6, maybe even 7 months, the nursery is finally done. Yes, that's right. Half a year to finish the smallest room in the house. Yikes. But come, take my hand and I will walk you through this modest room's magical 'restoration'. (OK...I wish it was magical...it was really just lots and lots of tedious work)

For reference, here is a floorplan of the nursery.*

*Legal Disclaimer - This was created in Microsoft paint. All measurements and scales are approximate.

We'll start with the walls.

Here is a picture of the room before we touched it. Wallpaper, and painted wallpaper on the ceiling. Yay.

It was actually a lot of fun removing the various layers of wallpaper and seeing all the different patterns they had used over the last 126 years. Some of them I really liked. What was also nice is that this stuff was SO much easier to remove than the stuff in the parlor. Not nearly so many layers of paint to contend with (Just one layer of Pepto-bismal pink paint (which was also a layer on the trim). Methinks we weren't the first to use this room as a nursery).

You can see the pink paint in this picture...

After the wallpaper was removed, I repaired the plaster. While not hard, this took a long time. You drill holes on either side of cracks, or anywhere where the plaster has started separating from the lathe, shoot some plaster adhesive back there, and then use screws and washers to bring the plaster back in contact with the lathing. This takes 24 hrs. to dry. When it is dry, you fill the holes/cracks with Durabond Easysand, sand it down, and you have a smooth surface ready for paint! (O.K. so Durabond isn't exactly the most historically accurate material...but it meshes well with my lack of skill...)

This is a chunk of loose plaster that I had to pull out. I show this to demonstrate just how thick this stuff is. Granted, this is from an exterior wall, and the interior walls are only half that thick...but that's a good two inches of basically concrete walls. That is STRONG! Another benefit is the sound dampening qualities. (Remember this is Aundrea's nursery. Sound dampening is GOOD!)

Here's Prego Steph cleaning the walls with TSP.

Steph picked out the paint colors. She chose brown for below the chair rail, essentially white above, and a light blue ceiling. The first brown she chose turned out to be the color of chocolate milk. We agreed that it was way too light of a brown, so we went back to Sherman Williams and got one of the darkest browns they had. MUCH better.

Instead of the ugly 1970's heat register they had, I bought an antique cast iron register and restored it. While in a different room, here's a picture of what the heat grate looked like (Bottom right corner):

The only problem was that it was a few inches larger than the old one, so the hole had to be opened up a bit. This wreaked havoc on the plaster, and more durabond repairs were necessary.

OK! Next, the trim. As you can see, it was all painted white. Now, to be fair, since the upstairs didn't use the expensive wood used to impress company downstairs, this was probably always painted. But, I rather firmly believe that ANY wood is prettier than paint, so the paint had to go. There were days...heck, months that I regretted this decision, but in the end, I'm glad I put the work into it.

So again...before. Painted trim.

One of the first tools I bought when we moved into this house was an In-fared Paint Remover. Safer, faster, and easier than a heat gun. Makes the paint bubble up and elasticky and you scrape it off. This is good because it doesn't create any dust, which, since it is almost a guarantee that there is lead paint, you really don't want dust. It also doesn't get the paint hot enough to release lead gas...also a bad thing. Finally, after many hours of scraping, I got through removing the paint. Or did I....?

Here is a close up of the trim after that once over with the In-fared Paint Remover. As you can see, there is still a lot of crap on that wood. My best guess is that, as I mentioned before, the wood was originally painted, and I think the first layer of paint was Milk Paint. That's right, they used to use a milk based paint. This stuff is nuke proof. There is NO good way to remove it besides sanding the tar out of it.

In the end, this is the process I used:
1) Go over with In-fared Paint Remover
2) Go over again with super-duty paint stripper
3) Sand with 100 grit sand paper
4) Sand again with 150 grit sand paper

What you have to keep in mind through all of this is that, because of all the different profiles used in this trim, there was no way to do it all at once. You had to go over each routered edge, each flat spot, each curve individually for each of those four steps. There are two windows, two doors, and then the floorboards. I estimate that each of these took me about 26-30 hours to fully strip. But I was pretty pleased with the end result.

Next, the floors. Believe it or not, we didn't want to keep the toxic-green quasi-shag carpet that came with the house. I know, we have no taste at all.

So we pulled out the carpet and were quite surprised to find, not wood floors, but linoleum hiding underneath. I know what you're thinking..."How lucky! How fortunate! I can now forgive them for pulling up that beautiful green carpet...as long as they keep this classy gem! I mean, look! It even has paths laid out! What more do you want?!?"

Well start writing the hate-mail because we pulled this up too. I know, we're going to designer hell for this.

Finally, underneath the linoleum we found the wood floor. Oh boy...this was going to be some work. Thick brown paint, again undoubtedly lead paint, covered a pretty rough looking floor.

Steph used the In-Fared Paint Remover to scrape most of that brown paint off, and then I rented a drum sander to do the rest. For the most part, we're pretty pleased with the result. There are four or five boards between the two doors that are going to have to be replaced at some point...they have some gaps between 'em large enough for Aundrea to fall through and end up chillin' with Alice in Wonderland. But we didn't bother with it yet since we just wanted to hurry up and finish the room so we could move Aundrea in.

One thing learned the hard way...save the floor for ABSOLUTELY LAST!! I installed the chair rail and crown molding after sanding the floor and put a few pretty nasty gouges in it. Oops.

This is the closet. We didn't do anything to it except the floor. I think we'll redo the rest of the closet when we redo the bathroom.

Next came the staining...Not that too many of you will care, but for the trim I used shellac, and I am a convert. This stuff is very historical, and does a fantastic job of giving it that antique look (all the nicks, scratches and paint that I didn't quite get out certainly help...). It only needs an hour to dry, so you can apply all the necessary layers in one day. Also, it is very easy to apply, and it is exceptionally easy to repair in case of scratches. It will also outlast your typical poly varnish.

For what was there I did three layers of Garnet Shellac, and one layer of Clear Coat Shellac. For the trim I added (Chair Rail, Crown, and Shoe (shoe molding covers the gap between the floor and the baseboards)) I did one layer of Garnet, and two layers of clear.

On the floor I used Waterlox Original, and am VERY pleased. It's a bit more expensive than some of the Polyurethane stuff you'd find at Lowes, but it's a recipe the company has been making for over 100 years, and so it too does a great job of giving it that antique look. One of the major complaints I read about this was the smell. I applied this in late Nov. It was snowing outside, and so I couldn't open the windows too wide for ventilation. Despite this, it still dried in 24 hours, and while there is a very faint odor, I did not have any of the problems some people talked about (I suppose if you absolutely hate the smell of the stuff, that faint odor might drive you nuts, but I kinda think it smells good...and it certainly didn't make the whole house stink. Just the upstairs.).

Lastly, and unfortunately I don't have any pics of the install process, came the chair rail and the crown molding. As some of you may or may not remember, earlier this year I picked up over a mile of molding, all of it Cherry, Mahogany and Walnut from a place in Detroit that was going out of business and auctioning off their stock. For the nursery we went with Cherry since it is a lighter, more playful wood.

As I was doing research on how to install crown molding I came across a website which read "If you are thinking of installing crown molding in an older home, my first piece of advice is DON'T!"

"Ha!" I thought. "Maybe even double Ha!" I had, at that point, already installed the chair rail, and despite a few minor set backs, that was easy enough. So how much harder could this be?

The answer? MUCH! MUCH MUCH MUCH HARDER!! This was by far the most infuriating part of the entire redo. If you're interested in my sob story, keep reading. Otherwise, feel free to skip to the 'after' pics.

To start the (sob) story, I bought a how to book on installing crown molding. In this book they have several different molding projects. I found the one that most closely matched what I was going to be doing, and used that as my guideline. One of the things it told me to do was to rip a 2x4 diagonally so you have something to nail the crown molding to. Well, I don't have a table saw, so this was not easy. I had to use a circular saw...and to say that the lines weren't particularly straight would be a dramatic understatement. But...I figured it was close enough, and nailed them up. Then I went to install my first piece of molding. The ripped 2x4 stuck too far out, and the molding didn't reach the wall (The project in the book I was using as a model was for 7 in. molding, I was using 4.25 in. I thought I had adjusted the dimensions appropriately, but math has never been my strong suite). So I had to take it all down, and re-cut it so the 2x4s were narrower. Keep in mind that these ceilings are 10 ft. tall, and I'm doing all of this by myself on a ladder. So getting them up and in the right place was not at all easy in the first place.

So I re cut them, and get them up. I then nail the first piece of molding up, both ends butted against the wall. Please understand, our house is old. The house has shifted and settled. There is not a clean 90 degree angle to be found...ANYWHERE. The ceiling will suddenly dip down half an inch and then go back up and the wall wavers back and forth like David Hasselhoff after Happy Hour. What I'm trying to say is that in several spots, the molding does not meet the wall...and in other spots it doesn't meet the ceiling. Far from it. But I realized this was going to happen going into it and, while I wasn't thrilled, I accepted it. What I didn't anticipate was how difficult it was going to be to get the joints to meet.

The type of joints I had to use are called 'coping joints'. I can't really explain how it is done, so if you really want to know how to do it, go watch a youtube video on it. But let me warn you. They make it look easy. They rip through it in about 25 seconds, and it is perfect. It is not easy. I will say I did improve from it taking me 10 minutes to more like 4 by the time I was done, but still.

It's done with a handsaw, and you have to follow the profile of the molding exactly. You then have to file down any places that weren't exact. I did this several times before getting it right. I then brought it up and, naturally, it didn't fit against the first piece at all. At this point my parents were in town visiting for the weekend, and my dad was helping me. We finally decided that I was going to have to rip the first board down and reposition it at a different angle. Which we did. And it fit better. But still a far cry from cleanly.

At this point I thought I had it more or less figured out and my dad and I quit. My parents leave, and I attempt to do the next piece on my own. It didn't go well. Many a tempers were lost, many a potty words were growled ferociously. I had to quit several times before I broke something.

In the end, I basically had to use scrap pieces and experiment with different angles, doing the coping saw cut each time, until I got the angle right. Sometimes I had to do it three or four times before I got it right, and then had to do it all over again for the next corner. Not fun. Anyway, I finally finished it on my birthday, and it certainly adds to the room. Just don't look at the corners too closely if you visit. I'm not going to lie though, part of me wishes I hadn't bought all that trim because now I feel obligated to install the wretched stuff in all of the rooms. And I dread that.

[End sob story about Crown Molding.]

AND NOW....WITHOUT FURTHER ADO...THE 'AFTER' PICTURES OF AUNDREA'S NURSERY!!!!

We'll start with some pictures of the floor. Oh, in case you're wondering, the original trim, baseboards and floor are white pine.

Here are some of those gaps I was talking about... :(

Again, the closet floor. The only thing in that closet that looks good...

Now I will show off some of that trim that took so bloody long to strip.

Close up of the light switch. This was actually poor planning on my part. The 'line' for the chair rail actually went below the light switch, but since the chair rail was a bit thicker than just a line, I ran into a slight problem. But I'm actually glad it happened, as I think going around it looks pretty good and gives it some character.

That nightmarish crown molding.

Notice the shadow on the one side...that's from the crooked ceiling...

The antique cast iron grate I refinished...

And the room setup with furniture.

And that's about it! So now I will move back to the parlor/library project. Of course, that will be slow going as I recently got a long term sub position at Hopkins High School. Yeah, hour commute each way, but the money should pay for the wallpaper and wood for the bookshelves in the parlor reno...and a few other things.

Oh, and in case anyone is very perceptive and curious, we are not ditching the shutters on the windows. I just need to figure out a way to strip the paint that won't drive me to insanity and/or suicide.

the last few weeks

2010-12-07T12:12:00.001-08:00

As usual, most of our pictures nowadays are of Aundrea. She's the cutest person, so she gets the most camera time. :)

little snow bunny

Kevin turned 27 on November 18. Aundrea was enthralled by the blaze...

It's pretty impressive how many fingers she can fit into her mouth!

Debut as baby Jesus for the church pageant

hanging out with Kevin's friend Kyle

Aundrea loves being in the jumperoo....thanks Marie!

Yesterday we went to Horrock's tree farm and cut our own tree. We found this lovely giant in what we thought was the blue spruce section. Turns out it is actually a Canaan Fir...no wonder it's so pretty! It smell heavenly. Having our own real tree makes me imensely happy! This tree is about 9 feet tall!

Little Bo-peep? I (Stephanie) wore this dress for my 3-month pictures and only recently found it at my parents' house. I decided to put Aundrea in it briefly for fun....of course she is 2 months older than I was when I wore it. Sorry that I don't have the picture of me to post for comparison.

Aundrea turned 5 months old today. She weighs 15 lbs and is 27 inches long. I guess I'm biased, but I think she's the cutest thing ever!

a few cute pics

2010-11-15T10:59:00.001-08:00

Aundrea is 4 months old, and is growing and learning more all the time. She gives us lots of smiles, though it's not always easy to capture on camera.
This top picture illustrates why I think she looks like a cabbage patch doll (the mouth!) :)

overseeing her nursery remodeling project

a funny face

In the laundry basket

Another Trip To Erie and Other News

2010-10-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since our last update. Part of that is because there isn't much to report on (and after the last update, in many ways that is a good thing).

Since I know it's what everyone really wants, here are a few pictures of Aundrea. She is getting a lot bigger, but she still won't laugh.

For some reason Stephanie likes to take pictures of living things surrounded by stuffed animals (She has previously done this with Ein).

Speaking of babies, Congratulations are in order for both Greg and Liz Wojo, as they have summoned the stork and are expecting a delivery, as well as Erik and Mary Youngdale who most likely (although this has not been confirmed as of the time of this writing) received their delivery. Greg and Liz, enjoy your sleep and free time, in a few months it will vanish entirely. Erik and Mary, welcome to the parenthood club!

We did, earlier this month, visit Erie. As always, it was a good time. We took our usual walk at Presque Isle and searched for beach glass.

The grandparents do love their granddaughter.

We also went on a wine tasting tour, which was a lot of fun. Despite being so close to Napa Valley in CA, I never got out to do that there, so this was a first for me. We got several bottles of wine, the two I most look forward to being the Peach Wine, and the Mead. Now we just need some people to come over so we can break a few bottles open!

Another trip we made that was a first was going to Wintergreen Gorge. It is a BEAUTIFUL trail that follows a stream. We elected to forgo the trail and just walk along the creek itself. Feet got wet, but it was well worth it.

Otto Von Bisbark (Mr. Otto for short), does not fetch sticks. He does not fetch balls. He fetches rocks. If you throw a skipping stone, he will try his best to catch it, regardless of how large the rock is, or how hard you throw it. You must be careful throwing these rocks (throw them out of reach), otherwise Otto will lose his teeth well before old age justifies such a condition.

If you look closely, you can see he is holding one in his mouth in the picture below.

Then there is this rock. Yes, you raise a valid point that this rock is, indeed, on the ground. Not for long. Mr. Otto did pick it up, and trot with it, quite proudly I might add, for several yards. Unfortunately since his back was to me, I never got a decent shot of him carrying it that adequately displays the magnitude of what he was carrying.

But just to show you nay sayers that I do, in fact, tell the truth, here is a picture of him carrying it.

Now you might say that such a practice is somewhat less than intelligent, but believe me, Mr. Otto is a rocket scientist who practices brain surgery as a hobby compared to Ein. Every opportunity he got, Ein took the most challenging route possible. Some might conclude that he is just an adventurous dog. I might concure if not for the small fact that he was never able to overcome these challenges. In this particular photo, Ein got himself stuck on this steep slope, not willing to come down because that would mean crossing water he couldn't walk through (and as you can probably tell, with those short legs, there are not too many bodies of water Ein is able to cross under that criteria). Eventually I had to go and forcibly drag him to a route he was capable of traversing.

While I don't have a picture of it, there was another moment of genius where Ein decided that, rather than follow the trail Stephanie had just taken up on the far side of this waterfall, he would simply walk straight up the cliff. I remain convinced that, had I not been behind him to pick him up and carry him up the correct path, he would have fallen over backwards. I should have let him...the fall might have knocked some sense into him. It certainly couldn't have made him any less intelligent.

But it certainly was beautiful. The fall colors undoubtedly added to the beauty, but this is a place that would be spectacular any time of the year. Hopefully next summer Kyle will accompany me down to Erie and we will mountain bike the creek bed.

Other than that, not a whole lot to report. We are very excited as we hope the nursery will be done in the next three weeks or so. We are about half way done with the painting, and after that all we need to do is install the crown molding and chair rail (which terrifies me...both the wall and ceiling are about as crooked as a dog's hind leg, so installing the molding is going to be...difficult...) and then do the floor (a few layers of Tung Oil) and we're all done! When it is finished there will be a post with LOTS of pictures. But until then, so long!

My Body Must Hate Me (and other updates)

2010-09-17T07:29:00.000-07:00

Yup. I'm pretty sure that my body hates me. Particularly my left leg, as it has been taking most of the brunt of my misfortune/stupidity (emphasis on the latter).

It all started about four weeks ago when I was going to work at Gary's and a black cat ran in front of my car. I thought, "Boy, it's a good thing I'm not superstitious!" Thus began my downfall.

It began innocently enough. That day, I was tearing down a field-stone 'wall' (only about a foot and a half tall) in order to replace it with landscaping blocks. I kicked a stone to try to loosen it a bit, when I felt a sharp pain on the back of my left calf. I look down, and there's some strange foliage on my leg, but I don't see how that can account for that pain, so I raise my foot to kick again. The same pain comes from my right ankle. This time, when I look down, I see three or four wasps hovering about my leg, and one on it, preparing to attack. I run away like a little girl. Apparently some of those bloody wasps build their nests underground, and they were less than pleased at me kicking rocks right next to their nest.

For the rest of the day my left leg, below the spot of the sting, feels sore. The next day, when I started working on it again, it downright hurt. It also became quite swollen (The picture doesn't do it justice).

The happy ending is that, with the assistance of some wasp spray, the nest was decimated. That's what they get...jerks.

Fast forward about a week to Wednesday, Sept. 1. I am, again, at Gary's. A day or two earlier he had gotten a little carried away with a chainsaw and cut down about 6 trees, and every low laying branch he could reach. It was then my job to cut them up into pieces that would easily fit into either a mulcher, or a fireplace.

Well, there I was, making good time, when I tried to pry a branch up with my foot so that the chainsaw wouldn't get pinched. It was a rather large branch, so some force was required. Unfortunately my foot slipped, and even more unfortunately the chainsaw was still spinning from my last cut. The results:

Thankfully my shinbone stopped the cut from being too deep, no major blood vessels cut, no muscle tissue severed, and no chipping of the shinbone. It did, however, lead to many stitches. 5 or 6 internal, and 23 external....which I took out myself a few days ago.

Well, that was a bit of embarrassing carelessness, but nothing too bad. It never really hurt, I could still move about, etc etc. Well, I took Thursday off, but planned to go back to work on Tuesday (Monday was labor day, and Kyle and I had planned to ride at Ft. Custer. After the ride, there was to be video games, steaks, and a bonfire.

The only slight problem with those plans is that all summer we had been accumulating a large amount of sticks/debris that needed to be burned if there was going to be room for a bonfire. And it was a bit rainy on Monday. Well, Kyle got back from our ride, and with the vision of video games in the imminent future spurring us onward, I, with the help of Mr. Gasoline, decided to take care of that brush pile.

Did you know that it's not so much gasoline that's so explosive, but the fumes? Yeah. I did not. So without giving the fumes any time to dissipate (and being what I thought was exceptionally careful) I doused the pile in gas, made a small trail about three feet away, leaned down with a lit match...and WHOOSH! I'm in the middle of a fireball. Honestly, at first I didn't panic. It felt like a heatwave that was just going to go right by, maybe singe a few hairs, no big deal. But it didn't go right by. I mean, it was probably over in less than two seconds, but apparently that extra second and a half is all it takes.

I got burns on 24% of my body...basically wherever I wasn't protected by clothes. My face was a bad first, my arms a moderate first, and my legs a solid second degree burn.

These are the pictures the day after. As you can see, the gauze bandage I was wearing protected my chainsaw cut. You can also see, with startling clarity (particularly on my right leg) where my socks and shorts ended.

Here are my legs one week into it. Believe it or not, most of this is considered 'healed' by doctor's standards.

And by popular demand, or at least that of my mother, here are pictures of Aundrea.

She is a very motivated baby. She loves to hold her head up, and even stand. She is, unfortunately, not in the least bit content to just lay around. She needs constant stimulation if she's awake............................

Another crazy thing about this girl, something that has us quite perplexed, is that she will sleep all night...from, say, 11p.m. to about 8 or 9a.m. That in and of itself is not that all surprising, and is in fact quite welcome. The really strange thing is that in the morning, if the diaper is wet at all, which sometimes it isn't, it is only somewhat damp, and there is never #2. Of course about 30 min. after she wakes up she has a massive blowout, but still, neither Steph or I have ever heard of a baby doing this. (She does hate having a dirty diaper...if you don't get to it quick enough, she'll start to cry. And she LOVES having her diaper changed. Even if she is being really fussy, and screaming constantly, she will stop and get downright giddy when you start changing her diaper).

But yes, unfortunately with me being sidelined with various injuries, there's not much else to report. Haven't been up to too much. But there you have it. An update, and pictures of the baby. What more could you ask for?

Rockwell Lake Lodge

2010-08-30T13:22:00.000-07:00

In mid-August we spent a long weekend at Rockwell Lake Lodge with the entire VerMerris family to celebrate Grandpa and Grandma VerMerris' 50th wedding anniversary (coming up this December). We had a room with 2 full-size beds, a living area, kitchenette, and bathroom to ourselves, but Nate and Tracie spent a lot of time in there with us. Tracie claimed Aundrea first thing. Aundrea is lucky to have such a doting, fun aunt. :)

Rockwell Lake is very isolated, and very beautiful. We enjoyed going on the trails around the lake, as well as enjoying the water.

Kayaking was a favorite activity. That's my sister Tracie in the picture below.

Fishing was pretty productive, although it was catch and release only. Here are the guys with their large-mouth basses.

Kevin also caught lots of sticks and logs

Derek really wanted to keep his whopper

Nate FINALLY got one!

Incidentally, we all love turquose/aqua :)

Aundrea's Baptism

2010-08-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

On August 8, Aundrea was baptised at our new church: Calvary CRC in Lowell. Aundrea's Grandpa Anderson performed the ceremony. After church, we had a party at our house. We were blown away by how many people attended the baptism! Praise the Lord for so many wonderful, supportive family members and friends.

My mom always had a cake that said "Jesus loves ___" for our baptisms, so I made one and continued the tradition.

Aundrea was baptised with water. Unfortunately, there was no water in the basin at first, so someone had to go get some! That was pretty awkward.

Proud parents

Mark, Marla and their kids were among the guests. We hadn't seen them in years!

4 generations of ladies baptised in the same dress. The baptism dress was purchased in the Netherlands during WWII for my (Stephanie's) grandmother. Since then, the dress has been worn by every female in the family. This picture shows Aundrea, me, my mom, and my grandma DeBoer. We are all the first in our generation to be baptised in this dress.

a fun-filled month

2010-08-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is an extremely large post with LOTs of pictures, but we hope you enjoy it! You'll see quite a few pictures of our beautiful Aundrea of course.

Stephanie made this onesie, proudly declaring our heritage

Daddy and Aundrea

Lots of visitors...Aunt Diane, Grandpa and Grandma, and Aunt Eva came to visit, and then we all went our for lunch.

Friends from church, Joyce and Christina

Aundrea and her Grandpa Anderson

Aundrea's "uncle" Otto

Grandpa and Grandma Anderson came to visit - Aundrea's GREAT grandparents

Aundrea in her crib, in a popular sleeping position

with her Great-Grandpa DeBoer at Sheila's wedding. Aundrea attended her first wedding at 2 1/2 weeks of age!

Faith was happy for a little girl cousin (once-removed)

VerMerris family photo

presenting Mr. and Mrs. Daniels!

Tanner chasing bubbles

Aundrea with Don and Sheila

Kevin, Nathan and Dad VM got a little bored, so they made a little sculpture with the plastic crystals at the table

we caught Shawn and Megan dancing...how cute

Mommy Stephanie and Aundrea

Every summer, Kevin's Johnson side of the family goes camping at the state park in Ludington. We drove up and spent 2 days with them. It's an active bunch, and volleyball was a favorite pastime.

bundled up with Grandma for the cool evening at the beach

We weren't quite up for camping with a 3 week-old baby, so we spent the night at a lovely bed and breakfast in Ludington. Aundrea passed out on the twin bed for awhile.

Our room was charming and cozy

the doors were on the short side

the Inn at Ludington (where we stayed)

Beach babes

the Ludington state park is beautiful, with lots of great hiking trails and waterways

Marcie the photographer

Grandpa Johnson holding Aundrea

Back at home, I (Stephanie) just had to take a picture on Aundrea is this cute, old-fashioned outfit we got as a gift.

Sarah (my college roommate) came to meet Aundrea. As always, it was great to see Sarah again!

Aundrea is getting to be well-traveled. We spent the end of July and beginning of August in Erie, PA visiting Mom and Dad Anderson and Marcie. Sunday afternoon, we spent some time on Presque Isle, a favorite for dogs and humans alike. Kevin, Mom and Dad found some great sea glass on the beach, and Ein and Otto went swimming. I just enjoyed watching and "wearing" Aundrea.

Aundrea tries out Kevin's shades

I sent Ein "through the chute" in the creek by Mom and Dad Anderson's house. It's basically a narrow, deep part with a current.

Of course I helped him out too
Aundrea is getting really strong!

Anderson family photo....it took more than a few tries to get it right. I'm only showing some highlights here!

Now, The Moment You've All Been Waiting For!

2010-07-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Having decided to make a fashionably late entrance, the baby has finally decided to grace us with her presence!

Oh, but there has to be a little bit more anticipation than that!

On the 4th of July, Steph and I decided to take a somewhat risky (given her condition) trip to Muskegon, MI to visit the Johnson clan. It proved to be a beautiful trip.

While we waited for lunch at Grandma's, Stephanie and I went to the channel to enjoy the beautiful weather and watch all the boats.

Can you tell that Steph is eight days overdue?

Stephanie wanted a picture of me, so I took this self portrait. I think it captures my 'essence' quite well!
After a delicious lunch, and some baby talk with Jessie and Jeremiah (who had their baby June 20...congrats guys!!), everyone headed over to Diane and Dave's for some swimming in the lake!

Then, on Tuesday, I took a risky trip to Detroit to pick up some molding I won in an auction. Yep, left my wife, who was 10 days overdue, on a two hour (each way) road trip. The load proved to be slightly more...substantial...than I had anticipated.

But it was worth it. 5,400 ft. of crown, base, shoe, chair, panel, bolection, dental, egg and dart, and other moldings, all in either cherry or mahogany, for .14 a foot. That's right. 14 CENTS. You can't buy firewood that cheap. Now I just have to try to figure out how to make use of it all.

Then, Tuesday night, it was time for the main event. We got to the hospital in good spirits.

But after Steph's water broke at 4:00, the situation became somewhat less enjoyable.
And less enjoyable...

Then, at 2:22 p.m., Aundrea Elayne Anderson entered the world...and it was all worth it. She weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz., and was 20 in. long, and showed us quite quickly that she had an impressive set of vocal chords. She also proved that she had a bit of a temper (she gets that from her mother!) and endurance. She didn't sleep until 14 hours after she was born, and she spent that 14 hours demonstrating, with impressive clarity, her displeasure at being in this bright, loud world of strange temperatures, needles, and people doing to her things she had no interest in being done to her.

Stephanie, while imaginably sore, is in excellent spirits!

And it didn't take long before Aundrea was hobnobbing it with several prominent members of the community, on the local, national, and even international level!

We are home now, and everything is going grand! If you're in the area, feel free to stop by! Believe me, you're going to want to get 'in' with this one. With her massive hands (seriously...E.T. fingers here) and feet, as well as her illustrious birthday (shared with the famous composer Mahler as well as a somewhat famous drummer named Ringo Starr), she is undoubtedly either going to be a hugely successful musician, or play for the WMBA, where she will make tens of thousands, from which she will give her adoring parents a generous retirement gift.

40 weeks along...now we're overdue!

2010-06-28T08:20:00.001-07:00

June 26 was our due date, but no baby came. We thought you might appreciate some picture updates anyway. Above you see our well-stocked changing table, currently located in our master bathroom. Our plan is to relocate it upstairs when the nursery is done and baby moves upstairs. Below is a "diaper cake" I (Stephanie) got as a gift from co-workers.

Here I am with a huge belly! This first picture looks so weird!

This is a little better. I definitely have a watermelon-belly, but I guess that's ok when you're 40 weeks pregnant. I'm really wondering when this baby will come, and what it is! Please keep us in your prayers.

2010-06-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sarah planned a lovely "couples" baby shower for me. It was a tun of fun. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures until most people had left. Here are some of us with the mess. :)

With all the warm weather, I've been hanging laundry on the line a lot. I don't know why, but I like the way laundry looks on the line.

It's been interesting to see the different flowers pop up over the course of the past few months. The perennial beds are always changing, and it's all a surprise for us, since we didn't plant them.

The wooded area beyond the creek has exploded with purple flowers. Unfortunately, the mosquito population has also exploded!!

Ein discovered a new cool place to lay by making a bed in the ground cover....not so sure how I feel about this

These cool purple flowers are our favorites right now - really interesting!

Ok, and here I am on Memorial Day. I'm 36 weeks pregnant (and 2 days) in these pics. I am still "tiny" according to many, but I'm definately looking pregnant! The cute cradle in the background belongs to Kevin's parents.

I had a much-anticipated doctor's appoinment today. My belly has been measuring small for gestation, so we had another ultrasound. The tech did some measurements and got some cute profile pictures. Turns out that the baby is around 5 pounds 13 oz right now, which puts him/her in the 13 percentile for what's normal. Baby is small, but not too small, according to my doctor. My total weight gain so far is about 26 pounds, which is right on target. Baby is head down and ready to go! From now on, it's doctor appoinments every week.

2 cute face profile shots! We saw baby moving his/her mouth, which according to Kevin, meant baby was making faces at us. ;)

Stephanie's golden birthday

2010-04-28T10:08:00.001-07:00

The long-awaited golden birthday was April 26. It turned out to be a beautiful, enjoyable day. We spent pretty much the whole day together, enjoying eachother's company and relaxing.
Kevin made a wonderful funfetti cake! We're still enjoying it!
In the evening, we joined Stephanie's family for dinner at Carrabba's. It was delicious, but we were stuffed.

Stephanie's 26th birthday also maked the exact date of becoming 7 months pregnant.
Only 2 months to go!!

A Plethora of Oddities and Other Updates.

2010-04-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

A little done here, a little done there, nothing really accomplished anywhere. Or at least that's how it feels. With Steph's due date rapidly approaching, the focus has shifted away from the parlor and onto the to-be nursery.

Ain't them walls lovely folks? Yup. And guess who's job it is to fix them. Let me tell you, working with plaster is a pain in the rear. BUT it'll be great when there's actually a baby in there. Below is a picture of how thick the plaster is...granted this chunk came from an exterior wall (immensely helpful when the prison is being loud in the wee hours), which are about twice as thick as interior walls, but basically having concrete for walls makes for a wonderful sound dampener.

So a few weeks ago I went down in the basement at night to take a shower when I saw this scurrying about the walls.

It was creepy, and I promptly caught it and threw it out side. Can you blame me? Well, that night or the next day I went online and tried to figure out what it was. When I found out, I rather regretted my decision. It is a House Centipede. Completely harmless to humans, and they eat just about every household pest (bugs, spiders, silverfish, termites..the works). So...if you happen to find one of these crawling about in your basement, just let it be! I was actually quite happy when Steph told me she saw another one down there (we have lots of spiders in our basement).

Once the weather grew tolerable, Scholma came over and started helping me clear our property. Little did I realize from my friendship with the mild mannered teacher while in CA, but Scholma is a lethal combination of Paul Bunyan and Captain Napalm. Not only does he cut down trees with ruthless efficiency, he builds towering seven foot blazes to reduce the once mighty timber into simpering ashes.

"Oh sure," you say, "That's more like a two foot blaze." True enough. But that was our first fire. We have had three since, and with each one we grew more bold (read: 'reckless') and built increasingly massive fires. But even the modest blaze pictured above...it was created on a Monday. Thursday afternoon I went outside, stirred the coals around and threw a branch on, and it promptly caught on fire. Now that is pretty intense.

Another thing that Scholma helped me with was building this handy dandy bridge with which we can cross the creek with great ease. When we first built it, there was no support in the middle, and it felt like it would collapse if more than one person was on it at a time, so we took some logs and propped it up. It is now solid as a rock!

Oh, and let me tell you a little about the wildlife associated with that creek. We have 20 in. rainbow trout (we don't see those all the time, but on several occasions now), Northern Water Snakes (which grow to be up to 4ft. I see one every time I go back there on a sunny day...thankfully they are harmless to humans and don't bite unless you try to pick it up), giant crawdads, frogs, smaller fish, and just about anything else that might possibly reside in a small river. Our kids are going to love it!

This is just a picture I took of the woods as Scholma and I were clearing (our property...if it lives in Michigan, we have it in our woods. There will be much venison consummation come fall!).

As the weather turned even nicer, Stephanie and I were drawn away from the never ending labor inside the home, and we started working in the yard. Stephanie graphed out, and began construction on a vegetable garden. It isn't quite finished being staked out yet, but it will be concentric, raised beds three feet wide (and then a three foot path, another three foot bed, path, then a bed in the middle). Stephanie has also been quite excited to start a compost. She derives a great deal of pleasure from throwing food onto the pile. Ein derives a great deal of pleasure from eating the food when Stephanie isn't looking.

Well, this past weekend I took a break from all the work and went down to visit my folks for the weekend. The purpose for this was two-fold. First, my Grandpa and Grandma Anderson were going to be there, and it was Grandpa's birthday Friday, and also my dad was preaching at their magnificent Presbyterian church on Sunday (I say magnificent because it is a stunning cathedral).

On Friday we mostly played games. I almost won the first game of Rail Barron, but Grandma intercepted me on my way home and handed the victory to Grandpa. It's OK. I let him win since it was his birthday. Besides, I won the next game AND won when we played Bamboo...even though I had never played it before!

Saturday Grandpa, Dad and I went to North East (that's actually the name of the city...) because there was a train museum there.

"But Kevin," you say "this is not a picture of a train museum!" Truer words were never spoken! We got there around 10:30 to find that the museum didn't open until noon. So we drove around town for a bit looking at the amazing old houses, and then found a little beach on Lake Erie for Otto to play on.

After that we went out for lunch at a old farm house. It looked like it was going to be one of those $20 a plate kinda places, but we all got double bacon cheeseburgers for $6.50. Delicious and cheap, can't beat that!

Then the train museum...

I couldn't believe how narrow the hallways in the cars were.

Then we crawled onto this engine to find...
...quite possibly the most cramped crapper ever. Yes...it is as small as it looks.
When I got back I got some bad news from my Mom. Otto has Lyme Disease. I think they caught it pretty early, but Mom didn't say what the prognosis was.

Also when I got back, it was back to work! Stephanie was working on weeding our very much overgrown flower bed...

...while I tried to clean off our very much overgrown sidewalk. The picture doesn't show it amazingly well, but you can kinda see how at our property line, half the sidewalk disappears under grass. That's what Our part of it looked like. So now, instead of being overgrown and decrepit, it's just decrepit.
Also, we bought some fruit trees and planted those on the hill behind the garage. We got two apple, two peach, and two sweet black cherry. I am SO excited for the day they start bearing fruit...assuming they don't die first.

And what's that you say? You notice those beautiful lines mowed onto the hill and you want to know what fine mower accomplished such a fantastic feat? Well, I'd be happy to tell you all about it! This is my new lawn mower; a John Deere SST18 (Safety first! Always wear ear protection! Just kidding, I just wanted to be able to hear my ipod).

Now, there are a couple of cool things about this. First, is that brand new, these cost $5000. It's a 2004 with low hours, and I got it for $1700. Every other 2004 SST18 I could find online were selling for anywhere from $2500-3500. Oh! How I love a good deal (I'm so Dutch). Best of all, it's a zero turn. It's steered by the back wheels rotating at different speeds, and if you slow down and turn, one wheel will actually go reverse, hence the zero turning radius. But, unlike most zero turns, you can in fact put a plow on the front of this, and I can use it in the winter to plow my driveway! It's the best of both worlds!!!! I know you're excited.

While I was picking up sticks in preparation for this epic step in manhood (The First Mow of your New House), I uncovered what I had thought previously to be just a pile of old leaves. Kicking them aside, I found something rather...odd...underneath.

In case you can't read it, it says:
Alva O. Inman - Died Sept. 30, 1855, in the 28 Yr. of HIS AGE.
To make it even more creepy, this is pretty much right next to the house.

After a quick Google search on his name, all we know about him is that he is (hopefully) buried in Ionia's oldest graveyard, "Oak Hill" (Not in our yard as we initially feared). But this begs the question, what the heck is this? Is this a monument to where he died (like those crosses on the side of a highway? Which would make it only a little less creepy than it being his actual grave). Remember, our house was built in 1887, so while it is possible there was another house here before, we don't think he lived here. So why is this marker here? Apparently, we have some investigating to do.

March updates

2010-03-29T08:36:00.001-07:00

Kevin and I spent about half a week in Pennsylvania with Mom and Dad Anderson and Marcie during Marcie's spring break. We brought Ein, and as you can see, he's not a fan of Otto. I thought these pictures were hilarious.

Ein shows his teeth...almost like a crazy smile

When all the snow melted, the Grand River flooded. The Grand River is about half a mile across the road from us, but it flooded almost up to the road!

Sara Baker, my friend of almost 26 years, married Mitch Vandyke on March 19. I was honored to be a bridesmaid and participate in their special day.

getting gussied up

The church was decorated beautifully with lots of pink roses!

Friends for life

me and Katie, the maid of honor, are both pregnant

It was a bit chilly to be waiting outside!

We sent them off with sparklers, and they left via...tractor?!

Here's my belly at 26 weeks. As I write this blog, I'm 27 weeks, which means I've hit the 6 month mark! I've gained about 17 or 18 pounds so far, which I think is pretty good for me at this point. I am very excited to have this baby! I've been feeling pretty good, other than dealing with some back pain and upset stomach at times. My goal right now is to really make progress on the nursery, because I feel like we're running out of time! The wallpaper is all off now, so it's time to clean the walls, repair the plaster, and paint!

BATTLE STATIONS!!!

2010-03-21T12:05:00.001-07:00

We are at war!

As we speak, hundreds of invaders are attempting to breach the walls of Ft. Anderson!

Our recon team, placing themselves in enemy territory at great risk to their personal safety, gathered these Intel photos of the army amassing for an invasion.

In this picture you can see the aggressors breaching the perimeter.

Once inside, some of their numbers, believed to be spies, congregate around windows, as is shown in this photo.

Our best theory at this time is that they are sending information outside to those still attempting to breach the walls. The nature of this Intel, whether it is information on how to get in, or other data needed for further training towards their unknown objectives, is still unknown. Thus far, our E.I.T. (Enhanced Interrogation Techniques), including water-boarding (shown below)...

...and more 'primitive' methods, which have been deemed too graphic to be shown on a civilian site, have revealed nothing. They appear well trained, and are able to withstand even the harshest of interrogation tactics.

While some are captured for interrogation, most are killed on the battlefield. They possess a fanatical devotion to their cause, whatever that may be, and have yet to respond to numerous demands to surrender. Here, a soldier, who will remain unnamed for his own safety and will hereby be known as "Soldier One", is shown with the most effective weapon discovered to date. He carries a state of the art gun, production code DC-25, which causes the enemy to quite simply vanish. Troops have affectionately named this highly effective weapon the Dyson Animal, for it's ruthless, and animal like barbarism on the battlefield. The only weakness discovered with this weapon is it's inability to eradicate masses of enemy soldiers, as only one enemy can be engaged at a time.

The following photos show a typical 'attack team' as they engage the enemy.

You will note that "Soldier One" (The more handsome of the two) utilizes the Dyson Animal, while "Soldier Two" throws a 'Raid Grenade'. However, due to the extreme nature of the Raid Grenade, it is only utilized in the most dire of circumstances where enemy forces threaten to overrun the defenses.

To demonstrate the devastating nature, and extreme lethality, of the Raid Grenade, the military has provided us with this previously classified photo. This photo was taken after the use of a 'Raid Grenade' in what proved to be the single bloodiest battle of the war to date.

Thankfully, while enemy casualties reach into the untold hundreds, casualties on our side have been practically nonexistent. One soldier nearly perished after swallowing an enemy kamikaze attacker that had planted itself in his water cup. The soldier was rushed to our Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, the staff of which is pictured below, where he made a full recovery.

We ask that everyone pray for our troops, who are constantly in the line of fire.

Baby update - 22 weeks

2010-02-19T11:36:00.000-08:00

After numerous requests, I am finally posting pictures of my pregnant self. As I have told many people, I feel like my belly's really not all that impressive. It seems like I'm just spreading out on all sides! This first picture was taken about 2 or 3 weeks ago, when I was around 19 weeks. See....not much to see! I was still in my normal pants at that time, even if they were snug.

Now here I am a couple days ago, at 21 1/2 weeks. As I post this, I am 22 weeks. There is a big difference, but no watermelon.

This past Wednesday I had my big ultrasound. Baby was pretty shy, and didn't seem to want to show him/herself much. The technician was able to visualize almost everything she needed to, but I'll need to get another ultrasound next visit to try to get a better view of the heart. Everything we did see looked normal and healthy. Baby is 40th percentile in size, at about 15 oz. Heart rate was 154. We did not find out the gender. Even if we'd wanted to, I don't think we could have, because baby was keeping his/her legs together and tucked!

Kevin and I both agree that baby looks crowded in there. I guess it's only going to get more crowded!

I can feel the baby move pretty regularly now, and Kevin felt the baby move for the first time this past Monday. It is a really neat experience, and so far my favorite part of pregnancy. I have been feeling great, and I am very much looking forward to meeting this baby!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures,

Stephanie

Open House and more home repair.

2010-02-04T11:53:00.000-08:00

Wow what a crazy couple days. We had our open house last night, and Steph and I were frantically getting ready for it. Actually, I was probably a bit more frantic than Stephanie because I was desperately scraping wallpaper, trying to finish with enough time left over to clean the room and take care of a few other things before guests began to arrive. Well, I set my deadline for 2:00, and lo and behold, I finish at 1:51. Yep, I was mighty proud of myself. So, I stood there for a moment, still standing ankle deep in wallpaper scrapings, pausing to silently pat myself on a back for finally finishing that...well, words can't even describe what a tedious pain that job was. As I stood there for that brief moment, mere seconds after finishing (literally), a car pulls into our driveway. It is Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, and Aunt Jo. Crap is all I can think. Steph is still bustling away in the kitchen, and I'm standing in what looks an Origami holocaust, covered in wallpaper glue drippings which looks, to an outsider, suspiciously like snot.

Well, it ended up working out all right, Aunt Jo helped shovel the driveway of all things, Grandma helped Stephanie in the kitchen, and Grandpa....
Well, I think it's fairly clear what he helped with.
Just kidding, actually, Grandpa helped a lot with cleaning up the parlor while I got out of the glue-snot clothes and took a shower.

After they had seen the house, and Grandma had admonished me for the lightly stocked wet bar in the basement, they left, well before any other guests arrived.

Overall, we had a good turn out. We were pleasantly surprised by some of the people that we invited that actually came, like Ron and Elane DeYoung, Steph's old paster at Oakland. They were the first guests to arrive during regulation time. (We were also surprised at some of the people who didn't *cough*derekandgrandmaandgrandpadeboer*cough*.

After the DeYoungs left, there was another brief respite before Grandma and Grandpa Johnson came, along with Aunt Diane. I heard that Chad was going to come until he found out 'refreshments' didn't mean caviar and Fillet Mignon.

After that, things started to pick up considerably, with much of the VerMerris clan attending.

Another pleasant surprise was that our Realtor, Patti, and our loan broker, Jamie, accepted the invitation. Apparently we were the first people they worked for to even invite them. We promised to have them back in a few months to see the finished Library/Parlor and the baby.
That pretty much wraps it up for the Open house. Tracie and Nate said they were leaving, and then all the sudden it was a stampede for the door (Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Killjoy!).

Now, to be perfectly honest, the post kinda ends there. "But Kevin," You say, "There are yet more pictures!" Yes, it is true. There are several pictures. Well, I might as well tell you this now. A blog/forum I have begun to regularly participate on is the Old House Forum, a place were old house owners talk about old house stuff, including how to fix the old houses. My next step in the Library/Parlor is going to be repairing the plaster walls, which unfortunately were significantly worse under the wallpaper than I had anticipated. But, for whatever reason, you can't post pictures from your computer to the website, they already have to be online. So this is my 'online' place to link pictures to. So if there are ever random pictures posted on here, with no text and no explanation, that's probably why.

But just to satisfy your curiosity, here's what I'm facing now.

Top of the North wall - you can't see it well, but there's a board there that is essentially flush with the skim coat. I don't know what to do with that (although I suppose really it doesn't matter since that will be covered by bookcases).
The ceiling by the South wall - cracked and sags. Not sure how to repair it as to eliminate the sag.
On the East wall near the floor - the plaster is crumbling underneath the skim coat. Again, not sure how to proceed with repairs.
The East/North corner. Photo says it all. ALL jacked up.
East Wall - an approx. 8x6 ft patch job. Not at all flush. I think I just need to sand it down, but want to make sure.

I have no idea what that board is there for, but I'm guessing I need to repair that too. (Again...East wall...grrr).
South Wall - Heck, forget the complicated stuff, how do you repair just a good ol' fashioned crack?
And another HORRIBLE patch job.
And this has been perplexing us for a while. This random duck head, on a swivel, is in the kitchen. Any ideas what it is for? Our only guess is towel rack, but it's several steps away from the sink, where there are other towel racks. Heck, even if you have no idea, deliver your best (or most hysterical) guess.

Working on the House

2010-01-23T14:17:00.000-08:00

Just in case you were wondering what I've been doing with my time here these last few weeks, here's an update!

First, when we moved into our house, one thing that was immediately apparent was that our Master Bedroom was about 10 or 15 degrees colder than the rest of the house at night. This made sleeping, and especially getting into bed rather uncomfortable.

As I've mentioned, the Master Bedroom was an addition that the original builder built for his mother in law, so it is the only room in the house that does not have basement underneath. The problem was, I had no idea where the access to the crawlspace was. Then, one day, I was in the bathroom down stairs, doing what you do in a bathroom, and I noticed a funny looking panel on the wall that just didn't seem quite right for where it was. I then saw heavily painted over screws. EUREKA! The access to the crawl space!

Upon inspection, here is what I found. Basically nothing. Not one shred of insulation, no insulation on the heating ducts, zip. Well, all other house projects (I had just started scraping wallpaper in the parlor) ground to a halt as I decided that this project needed precedence.

Yeah, we basically had carpet insulating our floor. No wonder it was so bleeding cold!

All in all, the project took about a week (I had to take several days off because Steph was working, and as she works at night, and sleeps during the day, working right beneath her probably wasn't going to work...I just kept scraping wallpaper).

There were a few problems, namely that the floor joists aren't spaced at regular intervals. The ones furthest from the house are about 25 inches wide, and then the ones right next to the house are about 18. This made buying insulation problematic.

Also, being 6'5 and trying to maneuver down there is not easy. There were places, particularly under the heating ducts where I would have to lay flat on my back and wiggle underneath, and with my back flat on the dirt floor, my chest would still be hitting the duct. It was very uncomfortable...and all the dust...and cobwebs...and spiders that built the cobwebs...and bones of animals as small as mice, and as large as dogs....

But here you have it...before

...and after

I insulated the floor, the walls, the heating ducts...everything. There is still a slight difference in temperature between the Master Bedroom and the rest of the house, but considering it has three exposed walls, I think we're doing pretty good.

On to the next project! The parlor! This has been incredibly time consuming and tedious.

The walls in the parlor are as follows: Wallpaper, two layers of paint, wallpaper.
So the steps to remove it are:
Step 1 - score (puncture small holes into the wallpaper so the steam penetrates and loosens the glue), steam, scrap the top layer of wallpaper off with a putty knife.
Step 2 - Re-score/steam/scrap wallpaper with paint on it.
Step 3 - Go over the area a third time with the steamer/putty knife to get bits and pieces of glue/paper that didn't soften under the paint (The nasty brown stuff on the left in the picture).

Here you can see all three steps clearly demonstrated:

The section on the right between the wall corner and the window took a little less than four hours.

As you can imagine, if the walls are such a pain, the ceiling is infuriating. It has an extra layer of paint, which makes it much more difficult to score, which makes it much more difficult to scrape. That little 2x2 square took about an hour and a half.

But today, as I once again tackled the evil ceiling, I came across something of great curiosity. It was a boxy shape that you could just see through the wallpaper. Then, when I got to it, for whatever reason, the wallpaper on top came off a little easier, revealing this wallpaper underneath. I'm not positive, but I think that this was the original wallpaper for this room. The colors started to fade very quickly, and right now you can barely make out the yellow on the flowers (3 hours later).

Once the surrounding wallpaper was removed, there was a small sheet of metal nailed into the ceiling. I was hoping that it would be a secret stash of Depression era currency...but that was not the case. :(

And here's what it is. What it is I have no idea, but I'm going to post pictures of it on a forum of old house owners I've been reading up on, and hopefully someone there can tell me.

So that's about it. Hopefully the scraping will be done in the next week or two, and then we shall move on from there (to what I shan't tell you yet!).