Finished Room by the Three Stooge's Painting Company

It turned out to be the Three Stooge's doing the painting work in Zoey's bedroom after all. The kid's plans were changed and Darin joined Bruce and I as part of the painting team. When we got to their house Saturday morning, Stephanie had already taped off all the woodwork and Darin had laid out fresh tarps and taped them to the carpet so they wouldn't shift as we walked on them. We learned the hard way to do that when we had painted Mackenzie's room.

Bruce began by removing the wooden blinds from the 2 bedroom windows while I got the 2 paint trays ready. Bruce was selected to be the ladder guy once again. Since he is smaller and shorter than Darin it makes sense. Bruce paints the top half of the wall and cuts in at the ceiling with a small brush while Darin paints from the middle of the wall down to the baseboard. I use the small brushes and go around all the trim work and cut in as close as I can.

Here's Darin doing his part on the other side of the room from Bruce. Things went very well this time and there were no paint spilling mishaps. I kept the bucket of soapy water handy but we only used it once and that was on a very tiny little drip.

I stepped out into the connecting bonus room and snapped this photo of all the furniture and stuff they stored there while the bedroom was being painted. Sheesh! What a lot of stuff.

After we finished the first coat, we ate lunch. By that time it was dry and we began a second coat. Stephanie bought paint from Home Depot and it had the primer and paint combined. It worked very well. Here is the finished room with Zoey's bed still sitting in the middle of the floor. It has to dry for a couple of hours before we do anything else.

This morning (Sunday) we went over to check out the new bedroom. Stephanie had placed the furniture back in it's proper place and everything was done. Here are Mackenzie and Zoey sitting on the freshly made bed. When they had first moved in 1 1/2 years ago Zoey wanted her room painted yellow. Grandma and Papa bought her a bed comforter and sheets but we never got the walls painted. By the time we all got around to having time to paint the bedroom, Zoey had changed her mind and wanted lavender. Fortunately, there are little lavender flowers stitched all over the comforter and it still goes nicely in the room.

Another view of part of the bedroom...minus people.

Grandma and Zoey have a little hug for the camera. Zoey is happy with her new room, so the rest of us are happy. Mackenzie is happy with her new blue bedroom, so the rest of us are happy with that, too.

Grandma and Papa are happy that these 2 projects are finished. We are now retiring from the Three Stooge's Painting Company. Of course we are not retiring from everything.....we have signed on to go over and stay with the girls for 3 days while Stephanie and Darin take a little trip to Las Vegas. That begins in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure that Papa and I are up to the task of the girl's schedules, but we will do our best.

Until next time....so long for now!

Two Stooge's Painting Company on Saturday

Tomorrow morning (Saturday) Bruce and I are going over to our kid's house to tackle the second, and hopefully last, painting project. We will be painting Zoey's bedroom this time. It will only be the 2 of us as Darin, Stephanie, and the girls are going up to his Mom's house for lunch. So us 2 Stooge's, Moe and Larry, will hopefully be able to get the job finished.

Zoey wants her bedroom painted lavender. Darin was off from work today, so he painted the ceiling white and we will not have to do that. The paint has been purchased and new drop cloths are at the ready. From past experience, I think we will need those.

I am hoping I'll remember to take our camera along this time and shoot a couple of "before" and "after" pictures. And I'm already thinking about that bucket of soapy water. Could be interesting.

Until next time....so long for now!

More Repairs to Finish the Job...sort of

Yesterday was one of those days where you just have to get the job done! Any recreational vehicle will need service or repair from time to time. Our motorhome has just seemed to need a lot of it lately. If we want to travel by RV, then it just has to get done.

We had to get up at 5:30 to drive south 27 miles to I-5 Uhlmann RV in Chehalis, Washington. We had our appointment and it was going to be an all day job. This is the new building I-5 Uhlmann just finished and moved into.....just in time for the big meltdown in the RV industry.
They have been at this new location for about a year. It is a great facility with many service bays and a good waiting area. It is located at exit 76 off Interstate 5 in Washington. We had a couple of minor things we needed done and then 2 "biggies". The first biggie was the finish work on our original problem with the leaking in the 2 slide outs. The slide on the driver side of the coach need the slide-top awning replaced. We could have done it back at the Winnebago factory in August, but it would have meant another 10 days waiting for parts. We opted to head on back here to Washington and have our local dealer make the replacement. The second biggie was once again the satellite dish. This has been a source of irritation for several months. We had it looked at twice on our trip - once in Florida and again at Winnebago. On both occasions it worked perfectly at the repair facility. Don't ya just love when that happens? It quit working and gave up the ghost for the last time, about 3 days out of the Winnebago factory.

After we got back here to Tumwater, we added it to our list of repairs. It is supposed to be covered by our extended warranty policy. The nice man at Uhlmann checked it out and, Praise The Lord, it wouldn't cooperate and lock onto the satellite signal. Finally! He really gave it a workout to see if he could fix anything and he could not. It appears the control panel (or whatever he called it) was kaput. The extended warranty folks would not approve a replacement until an independent service tech came to look at it. So, this morning we drove back to Uhlmann to have that guy look it over. Still wouldn't work. No duh! So, he will make his report to recommend full replacement and we now wait to see how that goes. Fine and dandy as it will save us around $2,000.

Annie gets to come into the service center with us, too. We took her favorite blankie and her water bowl and she slept under the coffee table while we watched TV or read our books. She's a good little girl. Here she is with me outside the Uhlmann building.

Annie and I walked around for a while to get some fresh air and look at the inventory (or lack of) that Uhlmann has on their lot. We found this cute Little Chalet travel trailer. I checked with Annie about that one and she wasn't in favor of a trade-in.

Compare the Little Chalet to this Adventurer and you can see the big difference. If you had several dogs, you could tow this Little Chalet behind the Class A as a dog house for them.

There were several nice looking 5th wheels on the lot like these and a few larger travel trailers as well. When we were at Uhlmann for some RV supplies last winter they had a lot more motorhomes on the lot. They most likely sold them at big discounts to unload their inventory and haven't replaced them as yet. I hope their business picks up and they can hang in there. They are nice people and have a good service center.

This afternoon we are waiting for the phone to ring and give us the news on the satellite dish replacement. I have a good feeling about it, but until you get the final answer......well, you never know!

Until next time.....so long for now!

Happy 8th Birthday, Mackenzie

September 1 was our granddaughter's 8th birthday. A really big day when you are 8. We were invited for a birthday dinner and cake. We got there early and I went upstairs to take a picture of Mackenzie's new blue bedroom....courtesy of The 3 Stooge's Painting Company. She wanted a blue and pink bedroom and since she already had the pink comforter and accessories, the rest was easy. Here is Mackenzie with little sister, Zoey. The birthday honoree always gets to pick the menu and sometimes in the past that has been very interesting. When Zoey was 3 she wanted macaroni and cheese (Kraft type) and corn. That was a very yellow meal. Mackenzie had a more balanced menu of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and glazed baby carrots. I also brought a dish of what we call "Pineapple Stuff".

After we finished eating this nice meal that Stephanie prepared, Mackenzie was ready to open her gifts. Our family is pitifully small now, since Bruce's Mom and my parent's have passed away. There are only 7 of us now (not including Annie who thinks she is a people). No matter though, we still have a good time.

Mackenzie was excited to open the clock radio gift from Mommy and Daddy. She and Zoey have to get up early to get to the daycare center so that will come in handy.

Grandma and Papa gave her several different art books and supplies. She is quite the little artist and loves doing all types of paper crafts.

Uncle Dennis, being a bachelor without children, decided on a gift card from Target. She loved it!

Time for the best part in my opinion, the cake!

Make a wish and blow out those candles girl!

Little sister, Zoey, gave Mackenzie a Rummikub game. After cake, we all played a few games of that.

Rummikub is a fun, family game and we all won a game before the evening was over.

In 2 weeks Mackenzie is having a slumber party to celebrate her birthday with 7 of her school friends. I think I'll stay home for that one and get a good night's sleep. My job for the next several days will be to work off the calories from that piece of birthday cake. It sure was good, though!

Until next time....so long for now!