December 26, 2008

Josh and Jay help to keep the wood stove going when they are around. It's fun for a couple of days but over the winter it gets a bit dull. Jay had to leave on Friday right after Christmas so the day was empty without him.
















Demetra Messoloras (Emilie's best friend in middle and high school) visited and cooked a delicious Greek dinner on Friday night. Here she and Josh are cooking and then we have Demetra dressing the salad. (I know the text does not line up with the photos but I can't figure how to make it work out right. Very frustrating.)



























Emilie tried to escape the camera but I got her (and her new scarf).






















Josh cooked the eggplant and it tasted super but the skillet was a total mess.

















We found this crazy dragon candle holder at a road side rummage sale in West Virginia in October and brought it home for Josh for a Christmas gift. It reminded us of the dragon they have hanging in their dining room/living room door way. It's a little over the top as a hood ornament but it would be super cool if they did mount it there.






































Emilie carried River downstairs to the car.























River went into the back seat so she could watch people but Oslo went in his carrier in the very back of the car because he travels better with sensory deprivation, so we were told.

2008 Gingerbread house

For 2008 we started with a Victorian house with a tower. It looked a bit rickety before the candy went on but after we dressed it with a chimney with a flowering vine and some gummy bear roofing shingles and a garden out back it looked like a solid dwelling. The cocktail umbrellas gave a lovely bit of whimsey, don't you think? Look, too for Emilie's garden and the purple and orange smoke from the chimney. Jay applied some windows to the tower side and did a gummy bear shingle roof. We have about 2 pounds of gumdrops left over.

Making the Pottery Studio more inviting

The floor was the biggest problem with lumps and holes and very rough patches that were impossible to mop or sweep. Floor leveler helped to even it out after we patched the holes with a few bags of concrete. Rick and I did this before Jay came to help us.







The walls were stone at the start.









Jay and Rick parged the walls to make them more even. Jay also filled in several large holes in the walls between the basement rooms. Rick has been avoiding this for several years.











Then they were painted. None of these were fast or easy steps. Notice, the clock spontaneously started working again after the wall was painted. Nice.














Rick patching the lumpy wall over the work bench.










Rick Painting the wall.







There are some leaf stamps on the dungeon door to dress it up. It's already dusty again from the concrete work going on.








The floor is coated in an epoxy paint that has to sit to get ready for 30 minutes and then allows a 2 1/2 hour work period followed by a 12 hour drying period. We painted the floor in 2 sessions and did every other stair each time. It was important to remember which stair to walk on.





The walls look nice after they are repaired and painted. Not gorgeous, but nice.










This is the basement phone when clean.












These are the storage and ware shelves. The 2x4 supports were never painted until now.






The shelves will stay a bit tidy for a while.


















The basement stairs are much more inviting now with the epoxy paint. The paint chips keep it from getting too slippery.







This cupboard was originally in our kitchen. It now holds kiln shelves on the right and posts in the drawers. The top is our old kitchen counter that was replaced with Corrian a few years ago. Another chunk of that counter is an extension in the table saw.



The new shelves are from Linens N Things. Sad to see them go but these are nice strong and clean shelves.






This small collection of junk may inspire me or I may never use them.




























Diagram of location of glazes and raw materials.