Tuesday

Beth's Update Emails

Tuesday, March 16, 2004 4:07 PM

We are in Maryland, and still living in an ocean of boxes. I almost can't remember what it was like to be organized!

This is my new email address, we have not purchased a non-cable web provider for the OurVictorian website yet.

We arrived around 3:30AM on Thursday (I think it was anyway), had a few minor challenges along the road, the smallest was the cats. Christina took Keoke out of the cage at one point and received a wet lap for her troubles. We stopped at a gas station so Christina could change and wash up. Gross. When we arrived in the immediate area there was a delay on route 270, 2 lanes closed for night construction. We got off on 3 and bypassed the delays.

We had many people helping to unload the two trucks on Saturday, thank goodness or we might still be unloading. Lord we have a lot of stuff. We almost fit everything into the moving trucks, we just had to leave two pieces behind that I hope by now my folks were able to pick up from the old house.

Rained last night so it's quite chilly today but yesterday Christina and I were roasting as we unpacked boxes. Her room is almost put together. We are still sleeping on mattresses on the floor until we get the rooms together. Chuck's friend Monte drove one truck up for us, this week has pretty much been dedicated to DC touring and recovering from the packing and driving. Chuck has to start his new job Monday. I'll be organizing the new homestead. Christina starts school Friday. Right now she is looking through her high school book to choose electives for next year. Fun, fun!

We should be ordering the cabinets for the kitchen early next week and have a full, brand new kitchen in a month. Washer arrived yesterday, kitchen appliances should be here by Monday. We need them in order to order cabinets so we have the exact measurements.

The cats have disappeared for days at a time it seems as they explore the new house. Yesterday Nash was found in the ceiling/floor. We pulled him out (literally - by his tail). Last night after we went to bed we heard him meowing from the attic. I guess when Christina put boxes away up there he followed and got trapped. The curiosity and cats thing is really true for him, Keoke, on the other hand is sticking really close to her family. Jasmine doesn't like the stairs so she no longer sleeps with Christina. She takes the outside steps just fine but indoors she is a coward!

Enough for now we have to hit the store for a few things.

Friday, April 09, 2004 11:58 AM

Last Friday we got our Maryland drivers licenses. Next we have to get the cars inspected and get Maryland tags. We'll have to get Lexus to drill holes in the front of the car since Maryland requires two tags.

I finished taking down the ceiling in the will be kitchen Wednesday, and bagged that mess all up. Filled four LARGE black plastic bags, should have taken six but I ran out and didn't feel like driving into town all grimy. Me, the girliest girl I knew, wearing eye protection, a paper mask and using a wrecking bar.

I DO miss having nice nails and this non-stop application of hand cream is driving me crazy. I rarely used it before. But more than that, I miss Sushi!!!! =)

This weekend Chuck will get the wiring in the kitchen competed. Assuming we don't run into any issues. Friday 50 sheets of drywall and various other large items were delivered by Lowe's. THEY get to fight the hill . . . but we get to move it all from the front yard to somewhere else . . . Boy was that a work out. I can barely move my fingers to type right now.

Wednesday it was nice, actually, it was quite warm. Thursday I kicked the heater on and off to remove the chill from the house.

Christina is on Spring break this week, she's with her dad.

We will be getting rid of the home phone and have replaced it with 3 cell phones. All our numbers start with 301-524

Me 2946

Chuck 3883

Christina 2139

For the next few days maybe the home number is still 301-837-7773

Almost 4PM already, guess it's time to start dinner. This part of the day is really weird for me. I hate to cook and now do it almost every day . . . all part of being a stay at home mom I suppose.

Thursday, April 22, 2004 6:51 PM

We spent the day working in the kitchen. I'm soooo tired and my lower back hurts. We have one window in and 1/3 of the kitchen dry walled and ready to paint. The cabinets arrived today, minus one that was damaged. Of course it had to be one of the pantries, that's what we were installing first so the fridge could get placed and out of the middle of our work space. Oh well. We are going to try and get the rest of the ceiling dry walled tonight, all depends on if Chuck gets the lights wired. Supposed to take only a few minutes. Let's see how we feel after dinner!

We should have the rest of the electrical work done tomorrow and then the drywall can be installed on the remaining walls, after we get the other window installed that is. I finished putting up the house wrap on the kitchen interior and will staple the insulation after we get the ceiling dry walled and Chuck finishes the wiring.

Our goal is to have the kitchen cabinets installed this weekend. We'll see if we can do it. They arrived today and they sure are pretty!!!! The lazy Susan's for the West corner walls are huge.

I'd kind of like to go fishing . . . (fishing you say? Beth fishing?) no not fishing at the river, fishing at the casino . . . Fooled you ha ha. Last time we went I came home $100 richer (after betting costs!) on that machine!

Christina is cooking dinner tonight. Unfortunately, she didn't make it on the cheerleading squad. Try-outs were Monday through Wednesday. She is looking forward to going out for other extracurricular activities and will try again next year for the squad she said. All in all I'm very happy with how well she has adjusted to the move and change in schools. She has her first outing with her new friends (not counting the library trips to work on a school project) this Friday. Yes, I'm happy for her. She only had a bit of a challenge changing schools and according to her social studies teacher he has seen improvement already and expects her to be totally adjusted and with improved grades this next grading period. Phew!!!

I hear the dinner bell, yeah!

Monday, April 26, 2004 12:11 PM

I am the master of house wrap and insulation installation!!! I just realized I did all of it myself, with some help from Christina. I only have one small section of wall to complete but I can't do that until it stops raining. AGAIN. Man, a Northern rain is a pain. I, being from Florida, am not used to this all day crap when it rains. This stinks. I do miss the quick rain shower in the afternoon. When it rains here it is all day not a quick one and it's done like in Florida. The Tropics does have its’ benefits.

The spring pollen is not nearly as bad here. A guy in a gas station last week commented on how covered the cars are in pollen. I had to take a double take, here I thought it was just dust from dirt roads. Covered in pollen, ha. They don't know covered in pollen here until they see the oak tree pollen coverage in Florida!!!!

Chuck has to install some wood outside to match the rest of the exterior before we can complete the areas around the windows inside. One wall was a huge double window and we put in a smaller, higher window in so I could have the cabinets I want. Approximately 9' of unbroken counter on the West wall!!! (hurray) If it weren't for this rain we could have the entire room completed with drywall and start the first plastering.

PS For any of you that know about Chuck's brother he is out of ICU and in a regular room as of this morning. He is waiting for his first real meal in a week and a half!!!!! Great news!

5/10/04

Chuck sends weekly updates. It's forwarded below, some of you may have received this already. I send emails when I feel like it. It's Mother's day, Chuck's mowing the back yard, Christina is in bed not feeling well, so I'm emailing.

This week I "mastered" drywall hanging and seam mending, I don't know what it's actually called, but I can do it!

I hope in the next two weeks we'll be using the new kitchen! Friends of ours will be coming to see the work in progress from New Jersey. If the kitchen can be completed (cabinets installed anyway) we may actually have some room in this huge old place.

We're not exactly sure how big it really is but think it is over 3000 sq. ft. Perhaps more. In any event, it's much larger than the house in Clearwater. I'm used to the new weather, can't say I miss the humidity of Florida either! At around 10 this morning we went out, it was 71 (F for you Canadian's) and I was quite comfortable! I may have thought this cool, or chilly a few months ago. No, I'm not saying I won't be freezing (and you laughing at me) this winter but for now, I like it!! Actually it's a little warm in here right now, I have jeans on, that must be why!

Today I tripped three times on things laying around the house for the kitchen to be completed, once (hold the laughter) I actually hit the floor, my forearm still hurts. I can't wait for one room to be done! I've said it before and I'll say it again. The rest of the house will be a piece of cake compared to what we've been doing the last few months and it will fall into place easily!!!! My Tuscan, purple dining room is next! Woo hoo!!

That's about it for now, we're still plugging away!

PS, those of you soon to be traveling over the pond for TD, good luck! Glad (mostly) it's not me!!

5/26/04

The week has been slow for renovations. We took the weekend off for the most part because friends were in from NJ. They thought they were here to lend a hand. Chuck decided we needed a break instead. It was nice!!! I came out of the casino $30 richer. Nice way to end the weekend. We watched someone hit $1500 a few rows away, but you can't all be the big winner I suppose.

Chuck's brother, Tom, worked on the plumbing (except when he watched the Lightning kick Philly's butt in the playoffs) over the weekend and we once again have a working toilet in the master bath. Christina and I went shopping for her Eighth Grade dance shoes and purse Sunday, she's quite excited about the dance. I participated in some planning of the dance and it will be great for the kids. Theme is a night in New York. Very cool ideas for the decorations!!! I sold tickets again today and most of the kids have purchased them, today several more took another permission slip. Friday I'll be selling them again and I expect there to be a mere 50 kids not going of all the eight graders. Should be a great turn out for the send off to High School!

Electricity is causing a bit of a hassle. Chuck has spent the week trouble-shooting. We had to return the kitchen lights we wanted because they were hanging too low. We would have cleared them but my son and brother may have been knocked out! We replaced them with a pair of nice brushed silver rounds that are right at the ceiling. When the kitchen is complete you will see an update on the site.

Today Christina and I bought the over the sink light. Silver also but very different from the ceiling fixtures.

We have a date for the counters to be measured and installed. By mid June the kitchen will be completed. Boy do I miss the dishwasher!!!

Once the electrical work is completed, I will begin moving the pots and pantry items to the new kitchen and free up the area where the computer will live in the current kitchen. This in turn will free up where the guest bed will live and empty the dining room of all remaining non dining room furniture. Then the massive wallpaper removal will begin in the dining room.

I am now a founding member of the Brunswick High School PTA. My summer should be quite busy getting parent involvement. Who knows maybe I'll go for Pres or Secretary. EVERYONE knows MY note taking is the best in the country!

Speaking of note taking, leads me to TD thoughts. Wow, it didn't take long once I left for the stock to go way down now did it? See what an impact I made on the organization? =)

Enough patting myself on the back, my shoulder is beginning to hurt from reaching back there.

Take care!

Beth

PS, The cicadas have not reached our town yet but a mere 8 miles away they were extremely loud Monday night. It rained last night, a real Florida type thunderstorm, and that may help the little rascals out of the ground easier. Yep, Christina and I are really looking forward for every inch of our yard to be covered with the 17 year locusts. Who told me they would hit NEXT year . . . . Hmmm little lady, you were WRONG!!! =)

6/11/04

I was just typing an email to Michelle and preparing to type lots of stuff that I've been saying to many of you which made me think I need to send one to all of you.

Let me start by saying the winter here may be hell, no that would be your weather right now in FL, but here right now it is wonderful! Reagan's state service was 'like an August day' according to the news. Well, if this is August weather I just found heaven. Mid 80s with 56% humidity. Woooow, now that's miserable. Remind me of these statements when I'm freezing this winter someone will you?

Tomorrow between 12 and 2 my kitchen counter gets installed . . . have I said wooo hoooo lately? We are almost finished with one room. We still have small things that will take a few days in total to do in there but the dining room is next. Wallpaper is off of the walls and almost off of the ceiling. Yes ceiling. They wall papered everything over the last 100 years. Our dining room will have purple in it. Very much like the Clearwater dining room, Tucson style, colors and accessories anyway.

Living room is set up visually; furniture looks nice around the fireplace. I was in there tonight (usually I don't go to that side of the house). Yes, that side of the house. The house is about 3000 sq. feet best we can tell and wow. When new people come over I overhear them saying "I'm lost" all the time. I remember when it was like that for me too. Odd not having a central hallway to get to and from rooms. The charm of a Victorian. We love it. My brother in law said to Chuck he likes his ranch style house, ours is confusing. Funny, I lived in a Rancher all my life, one or the other, and this is so cool!

Okay that was the remodeling side of my life. Wait, there is nothing else right now. Kidding. Am I?

We are starting up a PTA here. I'm being nominated for President. Shoe in no doubt, who else would want the work. ME! I'm craving human contact and a mental challenge. I'll play PM (project manager) and love it. As Annette said, I'm living vicariously through her business life like she through for me last year, it's time for something. Wednesday is the first Brunswick High School PTA meeting. I'll attend for an hour and then have to leave for a funeral.

Christina is loving her new school and friends. She has brought home a ton of paperwork for things she wants to do in High School. Most recent was Football Captain. They need 5 or 6 of them to help with the teams. The boy thing is ramping up. Stephen has been here recently, they danced at the 8th grade dance. HS here we come.

With that thought I'll say good night all.

June 15, 2004 11:50 AM

The kitchen counter is installed and looks great!! Please excuse the mess on the counter in the attached picture. I had to empty the china cabinet so I could move it to remove the last of the wallpaper behind it. We are about ready to start work in that room. I'm going to try my hand at painting again. Real painting. Like art. Anyway, I've never used an airbrush but I'm going to see if I can get the hang of it and paint the clouds on the ceiling. What the heck. If I screw up we reprime it and Chuck can repaint the ceiling.

My goal is to have the dining room completed by the end of July. Since it is not a major demolition and rebuild this may actually be a possibility. I go into the kitchen several times a day just to look in wonder at how pretty it is! There are a few things that still need to be done, some fairy significant, like installing the microwave (because I forgot we needed an outlet in the cabinet the microwave will be attached to) and more importantly, getting running water into the sink (and dishwasher). Tom, my brother in law, will be walking Chuck through this task this weekend and we'll be using the new kitchen by next week. The 'punch out' work that remains will take about three full days. We may get the major parts done and do the small things as we go just so we can move on the next room. And roof. There are a few areas that need to be repaired from years of icy trees rubbing on the overhanging parts of the roof. Should be fairly insignificant work but we'll see once we look into it.

What else is new here? Christina is on her eighth grade class trip to Sandy Cove or something like that today. A beach basically that is not 3 hours away from us. Tomorrow is her last day of school. She goes to Florida for a visit on July 6. She's looking forward to it but is concerned with the things here she will miss. We plan on taking the train in to DC for July 4th.

Kara was here visiting this past Saturday. It was the first time she made a trip to see us on her own. Her boyfriend drove but it was nice showing them the area. She's a Senior now, they got out of school Friday. I believe Jack will be coming for a week or so soon, Jack is Chuck's son, Kara his daughter.

So how are all of you doing? Some, I hear, are traveling. I can't say I'm sorry I moved before I got that possibility.

Well, enjoy the photo of our beautiful new kitchen that, I want to add, has 20' of counter space. Yes 20 feet. It's wonderful!!

Thursday, June 24, 2004 10:19 AM

We have a functioning kitchen! Hurray! As of three days ago we were using it full time. Microwave is hung up over the stove, water runs and drains as it should, ice maker makes ice (chipped or cube), hardware is on the cabinet doors and drawers, all is great with the exception of the dishwasher which my brother in law will get up and running tomorrow. As I was cleaning up after the hardware installation I realized I have two cabinets and several drawers I haven't used yet. This is amazing, so unlike the Clearwater place where I was searching for locations to store things. I designed a kitchen! Yeah! I love it!

Next to refurbish is the dining room, as I said before all the wallpaper has been removed from the walls and ceiling, today I will prime the ceiling to determine if there are any remaining low spots. If there aren't we are ready to start the sky mural. If there are more low spots we patch a bit more and re-prime after the drywall mud dries.

I purchased curtains, sheers, and valances for the living room and den. We hung them in the living room and it is just what the room needed. The fabric color is about the same shade as the trim on a can of cinnamon Altoids. The curtains are fitting with the period and the room looks modern at the same time. Brownish furniture is set off nicely with the red curtains and gold sheers. Things are really moving along! I just did a search on the web for something and found an example of a completed Victorian living room and was amazed that we bought living room furniture a few years back that is exactly right for the period, how's that for luck! The dining room should move quickly, not nearly as much to do as was needed in the kitchen. Living room is a little bigger of a task but still not bad as the kitchen.

Weather is wonderful here. Humid days are only in the 50% range, yesterday the high I saw was 74 F. What a relief! (I have to rub this beautiful weather in now because I know come winter I won't hear the end of it as those of you in Florida enjoy winter weather like we are getting now.)

Christina is at Kings Dominion today with some friends. It's a theme park several hours away, a parent brought them for her daughter's birthday. Christina is ready to visit in Florida but she is also going to miss the things she and her friends are doing now. There is a town pool near the High School and they go at least once a week. Life guards also serve as chaperones if one of the parents aren't with the kids.

Sorry we don't have recent pictures, or a web site, to share. We are looking for a new Web provider. Once up and running the URL will be ourvictorian.com

Take care, I'm off to prime a ceiling!

Thursday, July 01, 2004 11:26 AM

We are very excited to have our own domain now.

We have begun painting the dining room ceiling. We purchased the two purple colors the other day, one for the walls and one for the sky, the sky is bluish but matches well with the wall color. My tasks today are to remove another layer of wallpaper backing from the walls, when we started painting it was rolling onto the roller. I thought it was just discoloration on the drywall. No such luck! Reprime where needed, and get an airbrush lesson soon so I can attempt to paint the clouds. I painted the ceiling the other day, we started to install the chandelier but the crystal was broken so we need to return it and get a new one. Figures right? Chuck took out the window that was between the dining room and the veranda. Since the veranda was enclosed lord knows how many years ago there is no reason for a window to be there.

We drove into Virginia Sunday, very cool to see the way it looks now, 1600's buildings that look just as nice as they did back then. The shops were cool. We found a shop that has primarily painted, artistically painted, furniture. Christina's Marti Gras theme rooms would look great with some of that type of furniture. Thankfully we are artistic because the small chest we saw was $1600, it would be a fortune to decorate her room to buy them outright. We have one medium size chest of drawers to practice on when the time comes. We won't do anything in her room until she takes the initiative to finish taking her wallpaper down. She just doesn't take control and do it. 14 year olds. Man.

Take care and enjoy the site.

Tuesday, July 13, 2004 2:16 PM

We are well on the way to getting the dining room completed by the end of this month. I tried my hand at airbrush painting and I must say am doing pretty well with it. There was one section that just sucked so yesterday I repainted the ceiling and then reworked the clouds. Much better. I need to really evaluate how it looks now and determine where else I need to punch up the white, fluffy parts. All in all it looks every bit as good as places I have seen completed by "real" airbrush artists. Now my husband will be on me even more to pick up a paint brush again. Maybe after we have the art room situated. We'll see. At least I know the "talent" is still there, or the eye, however you want to look at it. The last paintings I did were for a Painting I class at Eckerd College, an elective toward my degree. I did okay but got really frustrated at my rusty hand. Yes, that rust is my fault for not doing it but I'm my own worst critic, always have been. I need to just break down and paint an 11x14 or bigger landscape or seascape and get it over with. They were always easy for me.

What's been happening here? The irony. I lived in Florida, the lightning capital of the world, most of my life. Where do we lose a 27" TV and computer modem due to a lightning strike? Maryland. The family across the street lost 2 TVs. Could have been worse for us I suppose.

We have a real website now. www.ourvictorian.com. You can go there whenever you want to and view our status.

Thank goodness the kitchen was the room that will take us the longest. Other than window replacement the rest of the rooms should be fairly quick to renovate (if you don't think about the bathrooms). We have the windows here in the basement (cellar) for the first floor. We picked them up Saturday with the assistance of a friend of Chuck's. Looking forward to getting them in because one of the front doors, from when it was a duplex, is being replaced with a window. We will then have a single entry to the house, that front door being removed will then be put on the back, the kitchen exit. It is a French door in fairly good condition once Chuck replaced a few panes.

Chuck's boss gave us 6 beautiful French doors for the interior. A set will be in the dining room between it and the guest room and another set from the living room to the den, or parlor, whichever we decide to call it. I purchased curtains for both of these rooms. The den will be the gold room and a home for my display Barbie's. We bought satin-like drapes and valances with gold sheers for that room. For the living room (three windows in each room) we purchased a dark red curtain and valance, looks rather Victorian and really punches up the look of the room, with the same gold sheer. I figured consistency on the front of the house with the sheer colors would be a good thing. The curtains are up in the living room even though we haven't yet removed the wallpaper and painted in there. It made it look so much better I wanted to have them up until we get to that room. It's easy enough to unscrew a few rods once we get to that room next month. We will be approximately 1/3 complete with the house with the completion of the living room. There is a rather large initiative in that room. Taking down part of the wall to get through to the den and install the French doors. Luckily my part will just be bundling up the wood that comes out of the wall. What is that called? The really thin strips, lathing? I don't know but the main part of the house is made, obviously, the old fashioned way with these boards about the size of shims or paint stirrers, covered with either plaster or a drywall, plaster board, of old. We also discovered the house is fairly soundproof. Once you go two rooms away you are unable to be heard by the other person. Christina requested a speaker system. I don't think we'll go that far but it is pretty cool! Unless you are trying to get someone and have to go searching through the house. More than once I have called Christina's cell phone after I couldn't get her attention by yelling up the stairs. Free mobile to mobile is a good thing.

Today I think is a day of organizing our work area and regular cleaning. One bathroom is complete, clean I mean, and the next step is to vacuum. NOT looking forward to that, it takes hours. And to make it even more difficult I can't find the vacuum attachments I need to do the job right. Lord only knows what I did with them. I just hope I didn't accidentally pitch them. No, more than likely they are just lost in the black hole of the first floor somewhere. It really is frustrating to wade through the remaining boxes and not be able to find anything.

We started to disassemble the old kitchen we were using and can't find a taker for the working fridge and range. Guess they will end up at the dump when we rent a truck and haul off the rest of the bags of construction, tear down, crap. We don't have bulk trash pick up here. Boy do I miss that. Actually we have a once a week pick up, and that is really a pain.

Christina is in Florida this month. She's having a good time so far, I spoke to her this morning, asked if it felt hot and received a resounding "YES". Guess the few months away from that high humidity has already impacted our internal thermometer. Gotta say I love it when they talk about the high humidity on the news here and complain about 60%. I know I will be too in a few years but for now, this change is really great! Excellent for a teenagers problematic skin too! Christina's face is almost clear with the lowered humidity. Hope we don't have a backsliding issue this month. She starts High School August 23. Unfortunately, her braces won't be off until the end of the calendar year or so, maybe January. All in all she really likes it here. I have my lonely days, days when I wish I was running a project or meeting people at Carmelita's or the sushi place on McMullen Booth road but that will come in time. I want to stay out of work at least through Christina's Freshman year of High School. As Chuck says, I deserve the break, and I think Christina deserves a full time mom during this transitional period. Something I was unable to do for Mike and always regretted. He did okay with a working mom anyway. Mike is almost ready to graduate with an AA in Computer Networking, sorry, I'm unsure of the actual degree title, and is working for a doctor's office conglomerate and seems to really enjoy the work and all he is learning. We hope to have him up later this year after he graduates for a visit. Unfortunately, a friend of his was killed by a drunk driver on July 5th so he is dealing with that loss right now.

Well, enough stalling. It's time to get back to work.

Take care and feel free to write back!

Monday, July 26, 2004 11:39 PM

Well, you all saw the pics of the progress on the dining room (and can always view pics at www.ourvictorian.com)! Lynne asked for pics of the dining room ceiling, they are in a new section called 'details' along with a few other goodies Chuck decided to highlight. We are making some serious headway now. I am so glad we found this place! Sure, the hill sucks but with our five year goal for this place (remodeling complete in three) we should make a pretty penny on it!!!! Now all you 'nonbelievers' know what our vision was and that we really weren't crazy buying this fixerupper. The two worst rooms are done now!!! The kitchen really was a ton of work gutting it but really didn't show what we could do! I'm very excited about this progress!

Saturday was a bust. The fleas up here are soooo different from in Florida they just multiplied overnight it seems in Christina's room where Jasmine (dog) was sleeping. We bathed the inside cats and dog and screened the doorway on the mudroom to keep the cats out there to smoke the house. When Chuck was putting the litter box out there the male, gray cat, Nash, scooted around him and flew right past me. Guess what? He found another escape to the floor/ceiling and we didn't see him again the rest of the day. Even after hunting and banging on the floor for hours we couldn't get him out to smoke the house. That means the darn cats had to get another bath and get thrown in the mudroom again and we didn't get the doors hung Saturday but getting the dumb animal healthy and flea free is more important. Stupid cat.

We were successful in our flea bombing Sunday. Chuck rebathed the cats and we took off to explore surrounding towns when the bombs went off. There are some really cool places around here . . . but that's another paragraph . . . someday. Jasmine (dog) was rebathed when we got home the second time, the first being to open windows and air out the place before we settled in for the night. The cats were so happy to be back in the house that we didn't see either of them until early the next morning!

Progress, Chuck installed the French doors today, they look great! The wainscoting installation is next on the wall leading to the guest room (or whatever room we decide it will be) in the dining room. The pics you saw to the left of the china cabinet show the unfinished wall and one French door placed against the wall. The doors required some customizing to size and new hinge and stoppers drilled into them. Stoppers, you know, the things at the top and bottom of the door that you put up to keep it closed. Whatever you call them.

Monday for me was a day to vacuum again. Yes a day, actually more than a day. We calculated just the living space is around 3300 sq. feet. That's a lot of construction dust to clean up - again! From now on when sanding to prime a wall or when taking walls out there will be a sheet of plastic surrounding the area like a Glad Wrap commercial to keep the dust away from everything else. I was only able to clean part of the first floor today. There was a lot of dust and couches to vacuum!

Chuck has a few side projects going on too. We found a console radio build in 1929 that he is refinishing. He spent a week in pain with an acid burn on his face and wrists above the rubber gloves from a reaction to the chemicals. He looked like he got in a fight, his left eye area was red, and swollen for days. The other project is setting up the surround sound system and TV in a cabinet. It is so nice to be able to sit in the living room again and it feels like such a shorter walk to the kitchen for a Pepsi. Geez, the Clearwater house you take 15 steps from anywhere and you were in the kitchen.

We have a few larger items, very big box and a sewing matching that will go upstairs so I can get around in the living room better and begin the wall paper removal. That will be easier than in the dining room. It seems to have been wallpapered over itself allot less than the dining room plus when they cleaned this place out to sell it they did a major part of the removal by hand. That's why the original pictures of the living room look so gross. It actually will work in our benefit that it was so torn up! Hurray. I'd like to get at least the living room wall leading into the dining room and the grand stairway stripped, primed and painted in the next week.

The demolition of the doorway to the den will wait a few weeks. I'm not up for revacuuming dust again even in a contained area for a while. I still have an unused area in the upstairs from the removal of part of a wall in our bedroom. We bundled the slats and brought a truckload of other stuff to the dump last week. What a pain! That was our third trip since we've been here. I really miss large pick up of trash that we had in Clearwater. We can't even put out yard cuttings. That means when we get to the exterior that will require several trips to the dump.

Well enough for now. Take care all!

September 16, 2004 6:30 PM

September Sanders' Brunswick update

Hello all,

I was very happy, probably not as happy as all of you, that the latest storm passed you by. North FL sure got a bad hit though, Panhandle, whatever.

Well, the main floor bathroom is in it's final stages. What a job. So much for a weekend project! We finished the wall board installation and will put the closet shelving in tonight or tomorrow. Hopefully only a few hours remaining of finishing work after we get the woodworking completed. We are rushing to get the bathroom completed in time for my parents visit in a week and a half. We can't get the temporary guest room completed for my aunt and uncle to sleep in until the bathroom is back together. The bathroom vanity has been living in the den for weeks now. I painted it white. No reason we couldn't reuse that and the medicine cabinet when a nice coat of white (okay one primer and three coats of paint) made them look new. The living room, due to the rain from the storms, has been the area we cut wall board in so most of my day tomorrow, now that we are finally finished cutting the wallboard, will be to vacuum and dust the living room again.

The next task after our visitors leave is to install the windows in the den (including closing off one front door and putting a window in instead), living room, and computer room. I think we bought eight. We were going to try and get the temporary guest room window in before our guests arrived but it just doesn't look like that will happen since the bathroom was such a challenge. Outside of that, thank goodness the remaining first floor rooms are cosmetic only and not structural. Should I have said that? Cross your fingers.

Christina was off school today and went on the Shandoa/Potomac river in a 6 person raft. She loved it! Even on a day off from school I didn't see her but for a few minutes, she is busy 6 days a week with football. One great thing with that is she is making all kinds of friends and learning football in the process. Something I'm still rusty with. Speaking of football, can you believe the only game I really cared about seeing was the first game of the season. Bucs v Redskins. I really thought the Bucs were going to pull it off for a while. Oh well, the new/old Redskins coach needed a first game win (did you notice dad that Chuck didn't call and gloat this year?).

For those of you that know Bernie, she arrived here safely, we went for a brief visit the other day while we were waiting for the tile grout to cure in the bathroom. The tile work looks amazing. Bernie looks great and has her usual peppy attitude!

Did I ever mention that the chandelier in the dining room is what we purchased with the Lowe's gift card? Thanks again all of you!

As always, you can watch out progress on www.ourvictorian.com.

I hope you all are doing well, I'm off to check on dinner.

Take care,

Beth

8/22/04

Hello all,

I saw many of you when I visited Florida a few weeks back. It was nice to see everyone but the visit reinforced that the move was the right one. Unfortunately, it wasn't a surprise for my parents, they figured it out, I think it helped when someone called their office and mentioned how nice it will be for them to see me. Next time, I state in emails that the folks don't know. Oh well, it was fun. Once I hit Georgia the humidity slapped me in the face. I do not miss that weather. It is cooling off nicely here. I change into jeans in the evening if we go anywhere now. My timing for the trip was exceptional, missed the storm in SC going down and got out of town before Charlie, that was so lucky for the Tampa Bay area that it veered to the East a bit. Ironic that the evacuees went to Orlando for safety. We had allot of rain from the storms. Actually, just like while in Florida once I got home it rained all week, just about everyday. Chuck said it hadn't rained at all when I was gone. Things have leveled off now and we just get an occasional storm again. Fall is in the air!

My surprise party for Chuck went off with minimal hitches. Chuck had no idea and was so shocked his hands were shaking. Perhaps that was because he hadn't eaten all day, no, I think it was shock at seeing some faces he hasn't seen in years and years. It was great!!! Note to self, when planning a party remember to eat that day and have some kind of dinner ready . . .

We have moved our renovations on to the first floor bathroom. At the moment the walls are stripped and we fill the tub using the raw hot/cold pipes. Chuck installed and frosted the window yesterday, had to custom frame it to get it to sit correctly, and it looks great. Today's task is to hit the drywall and wall board. Should be an easy job. Small pieces of drywall compared to the kitchen and we don't have to apply mud or tape to the walls since we are covering the drywall with wall board. After that is done Chuck will lay the floor tile and then move up to tile the decorative pieces on the side of the tub and wall. I have to sand and paint the existing sink vanity. We decided on white accessories and the vanity is in fine shape so no need to replace it when paint will make it just as good as new!!

Christina starts school Monday but has spent almost every waking minute since she returned from Florida working with the Football Team. She and several other girls are football captains, meaning they assist the coach with paperwork and help the players get their equipment organized and distributed before games and practice. The coach mentioned to a parent the other day that they have been a godsend to him. On several occasions he has bought pizza for the girls as a thank you for all of their hard work. Christina seems to really enjoy it and is psyched to start high school. We went to the Freshman Orientation the other night, I gave a brief speech to enlist parent involvement for the PTA (or PSTA TBD) and the kids were given tours of the school by members of the student government. We are encouraging her to get involved in these activities as well. But stress that her grades come first and if they slip, she drops the extracurricular. The school also insists on Honor Roll grades to continue with them so it's helpful.

www.ourvictorian.com

(Click on 'Renovations' on the left menu & then click on 'Guest Bathroom')

Take care!!

Beth Sanders

9/23/2004

Hurray! The third room is complete! Woo hoo!!!!

We should have gotten a ton more work done this week being as it's the week before we have company but I picked up a bug somewhere (dunno where, I never GO anywhere) and was laid up in bed for a few days. Last night was the best, I was wide awake ALL night. I heard Christina get up and shower so I got out of bed, washed my hands, and made her pancakes. We picked her up from football tonight and she said "Thank you Mommy" 'Why?' I asked, then she asked me for a tissue. Unfortunately, I shared my germs with her. Hope they're all gone before Tuesday . . .

Due to my stuffy head, this is a very short update and I'm forwarding Chuck's! Enjoy the site www.ourvictorian.com

Brunswick 10/24/04

Hello all,

Now you can begin the reciprocated laughing at me. I've been waiting for this, go, I can take it. Yes, just what you've been waiting for . . . Fall has arrived, and a rainy, cold fall it is. It was in the high 30s a few nights ago. When I picked Christina up from the homecoming dance last night at 11 it was 44 degrees. Yep, I'm chilly, last night I took a really long hot shower to get the blood moving into my extremities. No regrets regarding the big move here though. Unfortunately, people keep telling me this is going to be a bad winter. I figured it would be, all of your FL hurricanes were evidence of that. After Thanksgiving I may not leave the house until spring. We'll have to see. =) Fall? So sorry, I mean autumn, no one says fall here. Bad luck with the coming ice maybe? Who knows?

Not much to report on the renovation front. I'm, well, guess what I'm doing? What am I always doing? Removing wallpaper. Now I'm working in the living room. How many layers you wonder? Removed one, very easy and clean. Paint underneath. Terrific, I thought, this was easy. But then I realized, paint doesn't have seams. Yes, another two layers of wallpaper are under that paint. In case you're wondering, painted over wallpaper is very difficult to get through even with the steamer. Takes hours to work on a small area but three layers is better than the 8 or 9 I discovered in the dining room. Piece of cake.

Christina is doing well in school, the first report card comes out soon. Mid term progress reports were okay. She had some work to do in Science but took care of that and we expect an honor roll report card. Football season is almost over, wonder what her next after school activity will be, and her friends are trying to talk her into Lacrosse. I think that's a bit to rough for my daughter. Up to her but if she couldn't handle soccer a few years back this will be out of her league.

We have started the PTSA at the high school; I've been elected President. Yesterday morning I went though all the notes and put one action item list together and emailed it to the officers. All I need now is MS Project and I'm managing a project all over again. Good, my skills won't get rusty. I was worried about that with taking this year off. Starting a PTA is a whole different ball game then coming into an already established, often respected association. This start up year is going to be tough. Tomorrow I meet with one of the school counselors to see if we can steal a few minutes in one of their meetings to solicit for membership and offer whatever measly assistance we can offer right now.

The website now has some beautiful pics of autumnal coloration here, take a peek www.ourvictorian.com go to Miscellaneous then Autumn Foliage. We've been taking drives through the area, in doing so we discovered Winchester, WV. Wow, what a town of gorgeous homes. We'd love to have one but are short a few million dollars to purchase there. Terrific drive though. 45 or so minutes away.

I think I've put off wallpaper removal long enough, time to get back to work. Chuck is down in (or is it up?) Virginia for a few days working on a friend’s house. Today’s rain messed him up a bit. Now he'll be there a day longer than planned.

Take care,

Beth

11/14/04 Brunswick

Hello,

Last weekend we went to Boston for Tabitha Gustin's wedding. It was cold, we missed the Boston snow by days. The wedding was beautiful and Tabitha was a gorgeous bride. Nick is so big I wouldn't have recognized him if I ran into him. Amazing. Their house is cute and in a nice little town. The church was really beautiful and the Priest was a blast!! We did our usual drive around the area looking for wonderful old architecture and found a few nice Victorians in her area. What a long drive! On the way home we made the mistake of taking 95 and got stuck in NY for hours due to a truck that had it's trailer fall apart. When we finally got to the truck we saw that the entire hold up was due to idiots rubbernecking. The truck wasn't even on the road. Mr. Blackstock, you can keep NY!!!

Things have been slow going here in the renovation process. We are still working in the living room. The wallpaper removal was (is) a pain. Previous people painted over two layers instead of removing wallpaper before they applied a new layer or two. Steaming wallpaper that is painted is no easy removal process but I'm getting there. We have two of the four living room walls painted and Chuck is priming the third today. I only have over the fireplace and to the right of it remaining for removal. Phew after that that room is done as far as wallpaper goes. The windows are covered in winterizing plastic until we install the new ones. I want to have the room looking decent for the holidays so the window installation will wait until Spring because experience has now taught me to triple the time we think it will take to do anything because of the inevitable unforeseen issues that will come up. As always the site is www.ourvictorian.com

We had a hard freeze last night. When we woke up the ground was white. Here comes the cold. I have discovered that I am comfortable in just long sleeves up (or down) to 54 degrees. Below that I am cold. I think in Florida my cold threshold was 73 so I'm beginning to get used to this. I know, I know, winter isn't here yet. For now, I'm just fine. Earlier this week we had the fireplace burning. What a nice feeling. I never lived in a house with a fireplace, a big stone one is beautiful.

Chuck patched a bad spot on the roof over Christina's bathroom this weekend. This should eliminate the problem we discovered until we get a new roof on it next year. Overall the roof is in good shape, that spot was due to the morons that put the roof on years ago putting the sewage exhaust pipe (or whatever it is called that lets out methane gas) inside the roof instead of through the roof the moisture just ate away at it over the years. Man, the previous people were stupid weren't they. Talk about an explosion waiting to happen. Geez.

Christina finished up the football season, now we'll see what her next activity will be. She really did well with the experience, not that it made her work any harder getting her room done, but the coaches think she and the other three girls are a godsend! This past Thursday and Friday were dinners for the captains (the girls) and Friday for the varsity team for the end of season celebration. I'll enjoy the taxi rest for the time being! She really enjoyed it but never knowing when they were going to be finished was driving me crazy! By the way, she was an honor roll student this term. Hurray!

Can you believe that the holidays are just weeks away already? We bought fake pine for the mantle and to wrap on the front stairway. We expect to have all four kids for the Christmas holiday this year. Thus the rush to make sure the living room looks good. This will be my first year in forever not shopping on black Friday with Annette, that will be weird. I miss it already!

Well that's it for now, I have to go check on dinner. We have company coming in an hour.

Take care!

Beth Sanders

Sunday, December 05, 2004 12:58 PM

Seasons Greetings!!

Seems odd, this day in the past years has been my Christmas party. Wow. Whatever will I do tonight instead? I'm still spending the day cleaning, just not fixing party foods!

All is well here. The living room has been completed (for the most part - at least it will look nice for Christmas). Some things have already been changed from the images on the site. Moving pictures around, that kind of thing. We have the lights up out front, the living room is decorated, our Christmas tree is up and the stockings are hung on the mantle (that's a first for me). The town Christmas tree is visible from our front porch, we watched Santa arrive to light the tree the other night. Can't beat this for a location in a small town now can you? When someone asks where we live, it's easy to describe to them and they know what house we are talking about. Can't wait to get to the point when we are working on the outside so it no longer looks like a haunted house!

As usual you can see our status on our website www.ourvictorian.com

It's not too cold here yet, sure we have 40s at night but when the sun is out and it's in the low 50s, it's not a big deal during the day. We drove to Ocean City yesterday to see Kara's play (Chuck's daughter), it may be her last one in High School, she graduates in June. Christina will be a sophomore, Jack (Chuck's son) a Freshman, and Mike graduates with an AA in Computer Networking in February.

Take care.

Beth

Sunday, December 12, 2004 9:26 PM

Happy holidays from Brunswick Maryland

During this happy season we often forget to do the things that mean the most. Sure, Christmas cards are sent and gifts are given but do we really take the time to tell people how important they are to us? I can't really remember the last time I did this.

I have many reasons to be thankful this year and I just wanted to let you know that one of them is for your friendship. Some of you are new friends and some have been in my life a long time. Each of you have touched my life in some way. I thank you for that and I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you and care.

Anyway, we have finished another room. It took us a mere four days (and not even full days). I can't tell you how exciting it was to tear off a single layer of wallpaper in full sheets. I didn't even need the steamer except to loosen an edge to have something to grab hold of. I primed the walls the same day as I stripped the wallpaper. Amazing!!

We are in process of renovating the library now. Chuck took the rest of the border down and has the room partially painted. We need lots and lots of wood for this room. The wall with a window will be surrounded by a window seat and shelving (with storage areas on the bottom, much needed here). That means on the first floor all we have left is the computer/weight room, library, veranda/laundry room, and back stair way room. We are so far ahead of schedule I can hardly believe it! See our progress at www.ourvictorian.com

My son comes in on the 22nd, I'm really looking forward to seeing him again, Chuck's kids will be here Christmas eve. It will be nice to have the first Christmas in the house surrounded by all four of our kids. We may actually have a white Christmas this year. The forecast is for flurries tonight. We'll see. Christina is pretty excited about the prospect of making a snowman. She has never seen snow before.

I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season!!

Beth Sanders

Monday, January 17, 2005 11:57 AM

Our Victorian: a mild update
Greetings and a belated Happy New Year to all-

I'm plagiarizing Chuck's status email and sending it with my own comments added. We are finishing up the Library and will soon be moving on to the second floor. Chuck built custom shelving units for the library. When he brought them up from the shop he found there was a two inch difference in the floor level from settling. This took a lot of patience and know-how to remedy but they're now in place and we don't have a closet full of boxes anymore.

We saw our first snow last night, even though it was just a light dusting and is already melted and gone. Christina had several girls over for an overnight this past weekend to celebrate turning 15. All went pretty well except for one eating ice cream for breakfast. Luckily even my kid thought this was awful. If you ever wonder why kids these days are overweight . . . I can tell you!

If you have a built in bar and would care to share please send me pics of it. We are looking for ideas. Our next step will be to turn the old kitchen into a bar area. It seemed like the right thing to do so if a new owner ever wants to to convert it back into a duplex they will have provisions for the second kitchen else they will have a nice party built in. We know generally what we will do but I'm not really sure of what design we want. I'm hoping we start attacking the upstairs before we build that.

We will be taking the front bedroom upstairs and swapping with Christina. She will get the large bathroom and we will get the larger room. The front room has higher ceilings, in the back our tall poster bed just doesn't fit anywhere. Being 15 Christina went for the larger bathroom, smaller room area really quickly. I'm not sure if it had any bearing on her decision to swap but this eliminates her need to remove wallpaper in her bedroom. It's already done in the room that she will take. Bathroom is another story but that isn't much.

We'll be making a quick trip down next month, Mike (my son) is graduating with his AS! Hurray for him! He’s already started looking into classes for the next degree. We're very proud that he has seen the light and knows the importance of a college degree! Way to go Mike!

Well take care all!!!

Beth

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 12:27 PM

okay snow is here

Picture this . . .

I leave a meeting in a high school classroom, I look outside and see an inch of snow on the ground. "Crap" I think. I walk carefully through the school parking lot, I'm parked in the very last row. I scrape the back and side windows (I bought an ice scraper a while back), I start the car to get it warming since it's about 20 degrees out, and get in the car. I call Annette to tell her there's an inch of snow on the ground and I'm a bit nervous about driving. First time driving in the snow and all. I think to myself "Should I call Chuck to come get me? Nah, it's a dry snow the teachers told me, just an inch what harm can there be . . ."

Okay, I pull out of the parking lot and get on the road, I slide a little on the turn but it's no different than driving in a rain storm in Florida. I drive really slow, less than the 25 MPH speed limit. I drive down the road and turn on Maple, I keep going down the road, it's a little hilly, not much, I notice the indicator on the dashboard that I've never seen, you may know it, a picture of a car with twisted tire tracks behind it, all systems go, the weather indicator thingy works I guess the wheels are doing what they are supposed to be doing, I have all weather tires, no problem. I turn right on our street so I can park at the top of the hill and walk to the house.

Turn on my street? I should say I try and turn onto my street, the car decided to keep going straight . . . CRAPPPPPPPPPP!!! Watch the stop sign, watch the telephone pole, WATCH THAT CAR, THE HOUSE, WATCH THE PORCH!!!! All this is in slow motion, going a mere two miles an hour, sliding, sliding, sliding down the sidewalk.

I missed every thing costly except the neighbors fence that has an 8 inch cement wall holding big metal poles with the fencing attached. Still sliding close to the porch now, brake is doing NOTHING! Finally the car stops before damaging the cement posts which are holding up the neighbors porch roof! He peeks out his front door and comes out a few minutes later.

The car safely wedged itself on the sidewalk without damaging anything but her front lights and fender, oh and the flat tire. A Brunswick police officer came out (neighbor must have called them) to make sure there are no injuries. "How on earth did you manage to miss everything?" He asks me. "I wish I had a camera, the guys at the house just won't believe this." I continue to stand there freezing, snow sticking to my eyelashes and going in my eyes while Chuck moves the car off the sidewalk and parks it in a church parking lot down the street.

Insurance has been called, the town tow trucks are a bit backed up, I'm not the only one with driving issues today.

Yep, my first experience driving in the snow was simply grand!!!!!!!

Friday, February 18, 2005 12:12 PM

Beth Sanders 2/18/05 Brunswick MD update

Last weekend I was in Florida. I expected a nice break from the winter cold and instead experienced damp 60s and high 50s. Oh well, it was great seeing all of you that I could. My left ear is still stopped up, I hate flying, though I have to admit it was much easier than the summer drive. Just before Christina and I left we picked up my car from the repair shop. One good thing about the wreck is that the old lovebug damage on the front bumper is no longer there. Gotta look on the bright side of it . . .

My son is now a graduate, AS in Computer Networking, anyone have a job for him?

The first day I was home I woke up to snow, it was melted by mid afternoon but I put off driving anywhere just in case. Hmmm, When Christina is old she gets to say she walked to school (the bus stop anyway) all up hill in the snow.

While I was gone Chuck refinished the master bedroom floor. It looks amazing. We hung the curtains Thursday night and we are moving the bed in Friday night. I was worried it would be too bright in there in the mornings because it faces the morning sun but it's just fine. The dark paint with the blinds and gold curtains keeps it just dark enough.

I am spending the day Friday doing general straightening and put away on the upstairs landing, it became the place to put extra tools and such, so we have room to move furniture to the master bedroom.

Once the back bedroom (where we are now) is empty we will refinish Christina's new bedroom floor. I moved her clothes in to her closet Friday afternoon. She has more jeans than a store. I think it's time for her to try on and dispose of things that don't fit again.

Well, enough of a break. Back to work now! As always, take a peek at our progress on our site! www.ourvictorian.com

Beth Sanders

Friday, February 18, 2005 1:12 PM

Beth Sanders 2/18/05 Brunswick MD update

My son is now a graduate, AS in Computer Networking, anyone have a job for him?

Well, enough of a break. Back to work now! As always, take a peek at our progress on our site! www.ourvictorian.com

Beth Sanders

Monday, March 14, 2005 10:31 AM

Beth's Brunswick 3/14/05 update

Greetings from Maryland,

I hope you all receive this, our computer crashed, well burned actually from the smell Saturday, and we had to get a new one.

The weather is beautiful here, it's still in the 40s but it feels much warmer than Florida would at that point on the thermometer because of the lack of humidity. I'm not just saying that, I know this to be a fact thanks to my last visit. I was freezing at 60 like I freeze here at 30. Humidity is a big factor in how cold it really feels! The annuals, specifically the bulbs off of my front porch, are starting to pop up. In a few weeks the tulips should appear. That was such a nice surprise last year! We have seen a ground hog or three in the last few days, the one that comes into our backyard and drives my dog crazy hasn't shown up yet. Good because that would mean it was time to spray for fleas back there. I refuse to go through what we went through last year with the cats (who don't even go outside). I don't even want to think about that!

Remember the email about my snow accident? Last night Christina and I were at the grocery store and a teacher from the elementary school walked up to me and asked if I was that parent who was at the SUCCESS meeting. I said I was and she asked how I did driving in the snow. She looked so funny when I told her I wrecked my car.

I'm happy to report that Saturday was three weeks of being a non-smoker! Both Chuck and I did it. Thank you, thank you.

We are almost finished with Christina's room. I have to do some touch up painting on the aqua and paint semi gloss in a few places but overall it's finished and she has moved in to it and was quite happy with the results. I'm not sure if Chuck took a picture with the masks hung or not but you can see the results on the website under renovations/Christina's room. Her area is smaller than she had with the separate living and bedroom (obviously) but it looks nice in Nawlen's style. We got a steal on a brass bed frame but it turned out to be queen instead of full so Chuck had to rig it up to attach it to her frame. Looks nice.

Christina got a weekend job at Roy Rogers. She seems to enjoy working there but is getting a taste of how nasty some people can be. Poor sheltered little girl is facing reality now. Half of her paycheck will go toward saving for a car. She keeps the count down going of when she can get her learners permit. They don't offer Drivers Ed in the High School here but her company reimburses for the private class. Quite the nice little frills package should she decide to stay there through high school. Some tuition reimbursement as well. Time will tell, she may grow to hate the fast food industry and want to move elsewhere for her part time job during high school.

Today I get to go and solicit for door prize donations to the local merchants. We are having a huge PTA meeting with the four local schools and I want to make sure we have door prizes to encourage these folks to come back to it next year. I'm the PTSA President of the new organization at the High School so I'm the hosting President. I've been putting off doing this because I hate begging for stuff but here goes. I just have to remember that I was fairly successful at it when I used to beg for goodies for my development team.

Speaking of development, I've joined PMI and will be taking the weekend class to get my PMI certification. I have a job interview Friday, I have to dig up examples of old work to show them I know my stuff. I hope I can find them this week in the attic. Just kidding, they are clearly marked I'm just not sure if they are in the attic or in the library closet. Either way I'll find them tomorrow and put them in a nice 1 1/2 inch binder so they can peek at it. Hopefully some of you will be getting a call soon for a reference. You don't have to tell them I walk on water, just that I could put the project plan together to get it done!

Well, I guess it's time to get rolling. I hope you all have a safe and happy week.

Beth Sanders

www.ourvictorian.com

Friday, April 08, 2005 6:50 PM

Brunswick Update from Beth Sanders

Hello all,

Spring has sprung here in the north. Here's a shot of spring at the bottom of this email for you. A beautiful, full bloom cherry blossom tree. We sure don't have anything like that in Florida! The bulbs and annuals have shown up and along with that the first bugs and wasps of the season. Sure was nice having a few months of absolutely no bugs. Okay, I may have seen one or two spiders but they were little! Wednesday it even hit mid 80s, wow was that shocking since the highest for months was 62.

The local schools had the PTA meeting we were planning, that went well, the mayor and council showed up with at least one newspaper taking me up on the offer to attend. I even received a call for a phone interview the next day. From it I have received several calls with offers to volunteer. Phew, thank God. I felt like four of us were doing it all.

I start a job next week. I decided I'd go with a 6 month contract job since I really don't care if I work full time permanent or not yet. Six months on six months off sounds pretty nice after being with one company for 17.5 years. The agency I am working through said many of their placements turn into a year contract and often turn into full time employment so we'll see. I interviewed with the placement agency, phone then in person and then with their customer, who called them almost immediately and said they wanted me. This was Wednesday. The market here is sooo much better than Florida, not enough people to fill the jobs it seems. One company told me they went through 100 resumes to find me, the qualifications and experience they need. I had another company interested but I guess they weren't as anxious to get the position filled as hey initially led me to believe. If you haven't received a call regarding a reference you may not but any that you receive will be for PM positions so sell me that way regardless.

What have we done by way of renovations? Not allot. We moved the weight bench up stairs off to the room off of our bedroom, we trimmed a bush out front, I pulled out wild onions. We've been taking it easy, it's been a long hard year! Thursday I weeded the front flower bed, mostly removed grass that tried to grow there, and planted a few more bulbs. We planted 6 azaleas in the back yard. I expect we'll get to enjoy their bloom soon even if they are only a foot tall. Last weekend we drove in to DC to see the Cherry Blossom trees but apparently were too early, they weren't in full bloom. Chuck and I were invited by his friend to use the extra two tickets he has for a white house tour so we will be in DC this weekend. Instead we went to the Corcoran Gallery, some stuff was really great, like a bust sculpture of a nun in a veil, amazing, the stone looked translucent! There was a huge Frederic Edwin Church painting there too, called Niagara, it was breathtaking! I guess I just really like the Hudson River School artists. Then there were the areas of crap art. Modern art. Crap art in my opinion, one wall had several balls of string on varying heights hung. String, like from a sewing machine. Art? No way. There were a few other areas we rushed through that had amateurish modern art but their portraits, sculptures and other traditional arts were almost as nice as those in the National Gallery. Which is closed right now for the first time for renovations. The gallery we went to is private and cost $12 for a family to enter. Even so it was nice. At this point in her life Christina agrees with us on her taste of art, she didn't care for the modern stuff either.

Christina loves working. This weekend she works Saturday and Sunday, a few weeks ago she had the Easter morning shift. We had her step brother and his friend visiting for Easter weekend.

That's about it for now, take care!

Beth

www.ourvictorian.com

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 11:48 PM

adding to the prosperity of America

What? Seriously, I started work again yesterday. I was nervous at first since I have lived the life of luxury for over a year but it was great. I have an hour drive but it's pretty much go (versus stop and go) all the way there. I just applied for a smart-tag for Virginia, that will make it a little bit faster not having to stop at the toll booth. I'm learning the times best to come and go. For now I am at the mercy of the Sr. Manager since I haven't been assigned an access badge yet. I still have to be walked up and down, their security is much heavier than TDs is. I have access to their email though, in one day that was set up. I'm still trying to hook up to their shared drive.

I have 6 (or was it 7?) projects assigned to me, they call them programs not projects. 2 are basically in the final requirements stage (you TDers know what this means) and the rest are from the concept phase. I actually prefer that, I'll fully know what's going on! I met two of the business owners yesterday, all of them are in the same building (there are 5 buildings on the campus and two off campus). I think I'll enjoy this. Thankfully, due to the traffic around the large cities, the employers are flexible with in and out time. I gotta say, all the people that say the cost of living in Florida is cheaper are nuts. There is no difference in the cost of living. Sure I had higher fuel costs in the winter for heating but I had high electric bills most of the year for cooling.

We installed the window in the library this past weekend. Mostly Chuck did and I watched or held it here and there while he made adjustments.

Next month I start the PMI classes on Saturdays for PMP certification. Why I didn't schedule it when I wasn't working is beyond me. Oh well, it's only a few weekends.

So for now that is all to report.

Beth

www.ourvictorian.com

Saturday, July 23, 2005 10:18 AM
greetings from Maryland

Hello all,

This summer is hotter than last summer, it's been humid. Now is it really or am I adjusting? I don't know. I know that when I get in my car at night to leave work the temperature is mid 90s. Since this is the first summer here that I'm wearing work clothes it's hard to tell.

Chuck is working like crazy to get Christina's bathroom finished before she comes home from her dad's the first weekend in August. The ceiling is going up, since it was an old porch everything sloped. He leveled the floor but the ceiling was another story. So that is getting wood, wainscoting, instead of drywall. Looks pretty cool so far. He believes he will be finished with the ceiling in a few hours, then the real clean up and the flooring gets installed. Walls, paint, install vanity, shower stall and toilet. Piece of cake right . . . . This is the only room I haven't helped on. I think I had my share of tear down with the kitchen. It's an awful, awful job!!!

Well, work is busy. Busy. Now that's an understatement. Right now I have change management and process management for the Hispanic site, working on a new intake tool, that's been a challenge, preparing documentation to initiate 4 new programs (projects in TD speak) all to be scheduled in the same release. Feels like old times again . .. Busy! I'd rather be busy, well, maybe not quite this busy, than sitting and digging for things to do.

It's beautiful out today, a really cool breeze is blowing. Sun's out, sky is clear. Great. We're going to hit an estate sale and an auction later this afternoon. You never know what you might find.

A friend from Florida is coming up the weekend Christina comes home, She gets in Thursday and leaves Sunday, Christina comes in Sunday about when her flight is taking off. I'm really looking forward to the trip. Chuck and I have been trying to put together a fun filled, see all we can show trip. It should be great. Many of the small towns with tons of antique shops here have "first Friday's" with shops open late, we'll be hitting downtown Leesburg for that.

As always here's the site, enjoy looking through it. www.ourvictorian.com

I hope all is well with all of you. It's double digits on the clock now so time to get rolling.

Take care,

Beth Sanders

Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 1:05 PM

Subject: Fw: Our Victorian Update

Hi,

If you received this from Chuck just don't read what I'm forwarding at the bottom of this. If you didn't get it, as always, his writing is amusing, just like the web site. www.ourvictorian.com

All is well here. The weather is starting to turn, the leaves are getting to the beautiful autumn colors and the wind is whipping.

Work is work, challenging and I finally got my first project pushed to production. That was the most challenging thing I ever worked on. If a problem could have come up it did. Things that I never even dreamed of putting in a risk register. Amazing. I received this 'wonderful' glass brick in appreciation for my work with the merger. A glass brick? Weird thing to give out isn't it? The little round Exceptional Achievement things TD gave were much nicer. I was renewed for another 6 months but continue to look for better opportunities. I don't want to be a 17+ year vet anywhere ever again!

I'm continuing to study for my PMP certification. Hopefully by mid year I'll have passed the test. I sure wish I had taken the all week thing offered through TD years ago. Why did I say no I didn't want to do it? Dumb. I have a 2 day class mid November.

As Chuck states at the end of this email Christina is doing well. She really enjoys her school and is very active in it. Much more than she would be in a larger school. She received a "B" award Thursday night. This is an award for kids that go over an above and has been given to exceptional achievers since before the depression (as the guest speaker stated the other night). The first year awards is chenille, a "B" for her jacket but since she already has a letter in Football from being the manager (1 of 4 for Freshman, JV and Varsity) the girls decided to put them on the back of their jackets between the circular formation of the HS name. Okay. Fits right . . . Her homecoming picture is at the bottom of this email. She's going to be 16 this January, we agreed she could date (with our approval of the guy) when she turned 16. She has been on a few doubles and school dances, in each of these cases we drove and picked up the kids. Those of you that were around when I was pregnant with her, can you believe it? Time sure files doesn't it?! Do you feel as old as I do now? =)

Mike it looks like, will be staying in the Clearwater area. We'd hoped he would come here where there are more opportunities (work) but he met someone and things are going well with her so . . . . he's working with Tim at the moment and I hope thinking really hard about going back and getting his BS.

Chuck's daughter is a Freshman at Maryland U this year. Jack, his son, is a freshman at HS.

We have several more rooms to complete but Chuck is concentrating right now on things on the outside that need to be done before the cold sets in and he is restricted to inside work. We got two new furnaces installed this week. Man what a difference! Yes we are running them already, 40s and 30s some nights. One day this week I went outside to a thin layer of frost on my windshield. Defrost took care of it in a few minutes. Soon I'll have to go and start my car before I'm ready to leave. No I will not be driving in the snow. A coworker lives across the bridge and offered to car pool with me when it's bad, plus I have the opportunity with this company to telecommute occasionally. Most if not all meetings are via a bridge due to the many locations the employees are. I will not have an experience like that again.

So other than that things are pretty normal here. Hope all is well with each of you.

It's almost time to start planning those Christmas parties. I must admit I do miss having them!!

Take Care,

Beth Sanders

Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 12:59 PM

Subject: Thanksgiving - 2005

We hope your thanksgiving weekend has been filled with family and brought you much joy. Thanksgiving. A time of turkey, ham, tons of vegetables, and family . .. . preparation for dinner often takes all day. I grew up with my mom cooking the dinner, we'd eat and stuff ourselves, never leaving enough room for the pumpkin pie but somehow managing to have a slice anyway. I laugh at the seasonal Cool Whip commercials. The time of year where every other commercial is celebrating family and topping it off with Coooool Whip (you know the tune). What other time of year does this company buy TV air time? What other time of year is a desert incomplete without it?

But I digress from my story . . . .

As I said, I grew up with my mom cooking dinner, generally this was an all day effort. Laying all of the bounty on the dining room table, dad saying grace, the kids digging in. Seems like a decent enough tradition right?

Generally speaking we follow that holiday dinner tradition in my family too, this year it was to be dinner with just three of us. Mike is still living in Florida so he enjoyed two dinners, one at his Aunt Cathy's and one with his girlfriends family. Good thing for him we did move to Maryland. I don't think he could have handled three Thanksgiving dinners! We spoke to him on Thanksgiving eve. We called laughing to tell him it was snowing. No, I didn't drive. When we took Christina's boyfriend home Chuck drove, both ways. Collin lives about 10 miles away. Nice country drive. Hyperspace view at 55 mph in the snow. You don't know what I mean? You either didn't grow up in the north or you never saw Star Wars. In either event forget it, you wouldn't get it.

Well, I began preparing the ham around 11 AM. I got out the food processor and chopped up the broccoli for the casserole, gathered up all of the other ingredients and prepared to pull it all together. I wrapped the baking pan with foil and placed the ham on it, carefully sealing the edges, then I placed it in the preheated oven. 15 pounds, okay 5 hours to bake. As it baked I put the rest of the dinner together, I washed out the food processor and prepared the deviled eggs. It was easier this year using the food processor than crushing the yolks by hand as in previous years. After a few hours I put the sweet potatoes in the oven, the longer they cook the better they taste. I only cooked two as I'd been doing the Adkins diet and wanted to save some carbs where I could during the holidays. The ham was removed and brown sugar spooned on the top of it. I put it on a little too early and the house soon smelled like burnt sugar. MMMM imagine that mouth watering smell. Yuck. I placed the rolls on the baking pan to wait for the oven to preheat to the right temperature.

No problem, we removed the ham and began to cut it. I took a taste and immediately spat it out into the sink. SALTY. Oh my God was it salty! Chuck bought a Virginia aged and salt cured ham as a treat, he got a great deal on it, the meat manager took $10 off the price and everything. Well, being the NOT country girl I am I had no idea of the importance of preboiling the darn thing. We cut some up and boiled it for a while. It was darn near 6:30 now. We were getting quite hungry. Taste. Again I spat it out into the sink. In disgust I went to the living room and pouted in front of the TV for a minute. Chuck came in with a big smile on his face. "Get ready, we're going out to dinner." Christina looked at me with a strange expression and asked if he was serious. I told her we can't possibly eat that crappy ham. We got up, changed, I threw on eyeliner and mascara and off we went to have a nice dinner.

At the casino.

There is nothing much open on this day, in Clearwater FL let alone in this small town area. Chuck had already called to make sure the restaurant was number one open, and number two able to accept a 15 year old. We went there and were seated. There were a dozen or so tables filled. We looked over the menu and my price conscious daughter said "Man, these dinners are expensive. What can I get?" We assured her this was Thanksgiving and she should order whatever she wants. Ignore the price column. So, I had steak and a baked potato, I ignored the Adkins diet this evening since I was soooo over the whole Thanksgiving being a bust thing already, Chuck had steak and shrimp and Christina had a crab cake and shrimp. We topped it off with our choice of a fabulous desert. Milky Way cake for Chuck and I and Cheesecake for Christina. I'm happy to report that I only ate half of my desert. I wasn't counting calories, or carbs, I was simply too full to finish it.

A few years ago, I experienced my first Thanksgiving without my kids. My parents decided that year they were boycotting Thanksgiving or something and that left just Chuck and I. We went out to dinner, the only place open was a Chinese restaurant on US 19. We invited a friend to join us, we were worried that he didn't have plans either since his girls were with their mom. He'd eaten with a friend but came for the company anyway. My fish was under cooked and when they brought it back it was cooked all the way but looked like it had been through a bomb blast. Isn't is nice to know that that wasn't the worst Thanksgiving ever?

So how was your dinner?

Yesterday I went shopping on Black Friday as I have for years. This year it was with my daughter again since Annette is too far away to shop with anymore. I did okay but have a few gaps in my list. Like for my son . . . . um Mike. Can I have a list and your sizes?

As we go into the rest of this holiday weekend. Think about our dinner and enjoy your leftovers. We will. Seriously we will. Chuck bought a new ham yesterday as I shopped. No, it was a regular precooked spiral cut ham. We heated it and put the brown sugar topping on it at the right time and had our home cooked Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. All we had to do was reheat the vegetables and sit. Thanksgiving dinner was not another all day ordeal in the kitchen for me yesterday.

But the story of the salty ham isn't over yet. This was a whole ham. A nice huge bone for the dog, right? Christina walked her out to the sunny part of the yard (she's old and may have laid in the shade to chew the bone and it's too cold for her. Remember it snowed the other night, the snow is gone but the temp is still under 30). We watched as she gnawed on it and went about preparing the new Thanksgiving dinner. We sat down, ate, were almost finished and heard . . oh how do I type this? Well, I'll just say that the salty ham didn't really sit well with the dog either. Twice. She let loose under the dining room table and behind Chuck's chair. At that point I was finished. I pushed my plate back and told Christina she had to clean up her dog's mess. I couldn't. I'd lose my dinner. She cleaned it up.

We watched TV, then Chuck picked up Christina from the play off game (her HS football team is in the playoffs they have one game remaining to make it to State, remember, she's a manager, and is really excited about this). Eventually we went to bed. I got into bed and Chuck said watch out for the rug, it's rolled up. Jasmine had struck again. Right now he's in the basement cleaning it with the carpet cleaner.

Chuck said he's cooking next year, I vote we find another nice restaurant and make reservations in like July and go out to eat. There's a very nice restaurant in Middletown that Christina's boyfriend works in, it was open Thursday and was packed. Pricey? Sure but so was the ham that will be brought to the dump Tuesday morning!!

Happy Thanksgiving all!!!!!!

Beth, Chuck, and Christina