Of course this post is about cats!

I’ve had a few requests for a more updated Leechweeds blog so here goes. This post is coming from my new phone with images from it….so…this picture is of what I found on the bathroom floor this morning, and is presumably the same victim I watched Lucy stalk for at least half an hour last night until I went to bed!

The Cat Lady Reveals Himself

Okay, we all know that Dan is a real good cat lady!! As seen here:

There are a few more incriminating photos, but for the sake of simply getting an update to this blog up I’m not going to spend any more time hunting them down!

Really this post is about updating you one what has been going on at Leechweeds this summer. Not much housework, I’ll tell you that much. Though we have gotten a few positive comments from friends who think our living room is quite cozy. Thanks!

This is Gabi in her favorite spot!

Some extremely sad news is that Mia, our 3-year-old cat disappeared this summer. She spent a lot of time away from Leechweeds over the past year, going away a few days at a time, almost always during a construction faze. We even kept her inside full-time while we finished up the walls back in April/May, hoping we could get her through the stress of a house always in upheaval. Well, we’re not sure if she found another home or if she got lost or what, but we haven’t seen her since June 19th about (or maybe June 10?)…it was a Saturday morning.

Then sometime in late July we saw our first mouse in the kitchen. And sadly we had to come to terms with the fact that Mia might not come home. So we went and got us two new cats, a pair of sisters (we think) who look just like Mia. I sometimes think it’s her when I catch one in the corner of a glance…

Anyway, they’re great. And after a lot of wishy washy banter over names, we came up with Gabi and Lucy. The reasons for which you will have to ask, it’s a long story. Over the multiple-named first

.

month they were called Hoagie and Janet, Slinky and Log, Janet and Crissie, Mary Todd and Lady Bird, Birdie and Toad, and other things.

Oh, and we think the mice are gone…

In other news, here are some herbs from our garden drying, and some garden beauties beautifying! We got a late start on the garden this year because of the wedding, but we’re happy with all the tomatoes and herbs we’ve been getting!

.

On the fridge, where we can be proud!

Robin has been passing her Architects Licensure Exams willy nilly and is set to be a fully certified Architect by the end of the year. She’s got four more exams, so wish her lots of luck!

Jane also passed her Fork Lifter’s Test! Congratulate her when you see her!

Daniel and I got a new camera, too. We are super excited about using it, though it turns out that using the iPhone camera still comes in handy much of the time!

One last item is that Barby had boy 3! His name is Brewer:

In his blankie!

A Sneaky Little Leak

As many of you may remember, when we bought our house last summer it had a nice hole in the ceiling of the back bedroom, with lots of water coming through whenever it rained. So, one of the first things we did was to get a whole new roof.

That was in September. Then the roof kept leaking.

So we got a new downspout and replaced the flashing around it. Then the roof kept leaking.

Then we got the whole back of the house tuck-pointed and got all new flashing put on. Then the roof kept leaking.

Throughout all of these “fixes,” the genius Mr. Howerd repeatedly said things like “…I just don’t think that’s where the leak is…I just don’t think they’re looking in the right place…” to me while trying to have faith in the professionals. But eight months and $4,100 later, poor Robin still had water coming into her bedroom, and the stain in our brand new ceiling crept closer and closer to being a new hole.

So one very sunny day in May Daniel crawled all the way up to the roof with a hose, took off his shirt and clogged the trough leading to the downspout with it, and filled the trough with water. When the trough filled up and the water hit the spot where the hole was, the water came pouring through the ceiling. I was sitting in Robin’s room waiting for just such a thing and yelled up. And BAM–hole discovered!

Oh yeah, that was after Daniel stood up on the roof for about three flooding other isolated areas, one at a time. Thanks to Jane for some sunscreen we found in the bathroom!

So then, Daniel patched it up. And It’s rained a few times since then and no leak!

Tomorrow BBQ and movie!

3 p.m.

Sat., June 5

BBQ and movie!

We’ll most likely be watching Cleopatra or The No-Impact Man.

Movie Night Update

Hi movie lovers!

Vote it up for as many of these options as you’d be happy with. You can vote for as many as you want, but you can only vote once, so take your time!

Then! Vote for the dates/times that work for you–select all that work for you!

Daniel’s Birthday

Robin, Daniel and Jane hang out on the back porch (not last night)

With one wall to go downstairs and the living room almost ready for it’s inaug

ural theatrical moment, we decided to not

tear apart paneling and instead had a cookout.  With the back deck so well suited for such events, it was inconsequential that it was raining (though Arin had to keep her jacket on the entire

time and Joel must have been shivering).

Becca shows Robin her best Snarly face while cooking

While Becca did take a break from the walls, she didn’t quit

working entirely, here shown teaching Robin how to make your best snarly face.

Robin brought home a delightful touch of decor for the kitchen, in the form of a wall mount bottle opener with a bicycle diagram. Maybe if someone asks, we’ll post a picture of it.  Can’t wait for it to take a formal role in the new kitchen.

Later on we dined. Happy steaks from the Fair Food Stand in Reading Terminal Market were the centerpiece, but Lindsay’s mung bean salad was awesome too as were the roasted veggies and fresh salad that Arin brought. Uncle Jack even showed up in spirit with a gifted pitcher!

Daniel pours water with our new pitcher!

It made for a great birthday and an easy way to celebrate without having to step over sleeping bodies the next morning. I even got a call from a lion right before dinner started.  I don’t know how he figured out how to dial, maybe I am on his speed dial. He sang and growled and roared for my birthday!

Thanks everyone for a great birthday!

Back Bedroom Madness

Separating the Mates

A long time ago our roommates could hear through the separating wall. Well it wasn’t a wall as much as a doorway.  Though we did put a door in the way, it was more way than wall and more sound than not.

It was bad. One would pop the top off of a tube of chapstick and the other would hear it. No sound separation.  So, after pleasant prodding from Robin and Jane I finally gave in and built a wall where the door was.

I took out the door and the jamb I had built in to fit the door into the doorway (the original door somehow disappeared between our tour of the house and our taking possession of it)

I kept the original trim and jamb because it will make it much easier to replace the door at a later date.  Then I cut framing and using screws (again, easy to remove), built in the framed space. Then I drywalled one side:

And insulated.

There are lots of methods for properly sound-proofing a wall, but I went the easiest and least effective route.  The plaster walls are very quiet and the insulation here helps a bit too I’m sure.

FYI: The opening isn’t rectangular. After 100 years it has shifted and I had to cut out 3 pieces of drywall to get one to fit.

Then I drywalled the other side (sorry I didn’t have a picture from the same angle, so this is the first side I drywalled, but it gives you visual progress).

Then I mudded the wall with special “no dust” drywall mud that’s supposed to ball up when sanded… it didn’t.  But I was smarter than it. I wet sanded the mud instead of dry. I just used a wet sponge and it came out great!

then I caulked the edges to give it some tightness and to seal it a bit more. I love painters’ caulk.

After that it was just about time to prime and paint.  I added a bit of trim on the bottom to make it kind of look like it belonged there.

BAM! DoorWall

Color coded mystery

Wow.  In just a few short days we’ve gone from glitter walls to actual colored, flat, beautiful walls.  No more glitter on your shirt from walking up the stairs. No more glitter dust along the edge of the floor and no more boring white!

Eric, the neighbor-does-everything-guy came over and skim coated the walls for us after our scraping adventure.  He did an amazing job and now we have almost brand new walls. The living room is almost ready for the initial showing off and on schedule for the christening of our projector (hmm, maybe we should test it before everyone arrives). I’mma let you finish by spending less time writing and a bit digging up a picture or two.

dig dig dig…

Stairs with sparkles

See how bright it was. like a prom. but it also made your clothing look like a prom and the floor.

Looking down the stairs

So now with it all scraped off:

And with a bit of new on:

And this just in!! Becca took this moments ago for your viewing pleasures:

Living room... almost

A little update

Hi!

This week Robin had a birthday, so amidst the scraping and color picking, we celebrated!

As for the house, Dan took a day off from work on Tuesday, I’ve taken 2 so far (that’s if I don’t have to take another one tomorrow..), and we’ve got our neighbor-skim-coater helping us on the project!

The bridge fo getting up high over the stairs!

Sparkles gone, dust gone, bridge gone, ready for Eric to skim-coat

The state of our table this week!