Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Ticking off the list of little projects
Wow!! Where has time gone? It has been so long since we updated last. Sorry! Life has settled into a routine of sorts and we have been busy with little projects around the house. This weekend we will be expanding our household with two additional adults (my sister and brother-in-law), a three-year-old, a dog, AND a cat. It has been good for us to get our house in order before this big move happens, but it has been busy.
Things we've done or accomplished since our last post:
- Bought our first piece of furniture that wasn't from Goodwill (thrift store/ charity shop). A few weeks ago Rob and I bough a couch. It was out of stock but finally arrived and we picked it up last night. It is a perfect addition to our living room. It feels great to make a grown-up purchase and start creating some space where things match!
-On the note of matching... we have also been hanging curtains throughout the house and purchasing area rugs. We initially purchased these things for the living room, however after a total clearance bargain find we have new carpet in the blue room too.
-We bought a new (larger) chest freezer. We broke our chest freeze when we moved... or so we thought. After purchasing our new freezer and plugging it in, Rob figured out the freezers weren't working because the outlets in the basement are hooked into the light switch that is at the top of the basement steps. So now we have TWO freezers!
-We've become pretty expert at hanging up curtain rods!
-We rehung all the door. We figured our 'open living plan' wasn't the best option when you have two households living under one roof. We were also told a curtain as a bathroom door was a serious deal breaker. The bathroom door was the most challenging one, but we worked through it and have a door that works for now.
-We updated all knobs/ handles on the doors. A lot of the old knobs didn't stay on very well, so we bought some new ones and set about changing them. They look and work FABULOUS! We were having a hard time keeping our bedroom door closed and I came up with a great solution. It involved using a closer latch that you'd use for a kitchen cabinet. It was a very proud for me and it works like a charm.
-We bought a pool!! Not a big one or a fancy one, but a fun one, when it is warm enough to get in. We also hosted our first pool party ever and it RAINED the whole time! We had checked the weather and it said it was going to be drizzly in the morning but it should end between 12 and 1 pm. So we told everyone to come over at 2 pm. Well the morning ended up being lovely, but as soon as our guests pulled into the driveway... the rain started. We had a totally bummed out three-year-old on our hands. Luckily, we have lots of space and I had a few new-to-her toys tucked away. We did get in the pool a little bit, but it was nothing like we planned. The guys ended up hanging out in the garage and grilling massive amounts of food. It was also during our pool party that we discovered our warming tray works... but that there was plastic under the drawer. Once we got that out it was great.
-We got some new patio furniture. It was a hand-me-down from my sister's work friend. It is significantly larger than what we had previously. It is a little bit beat up, but I am very excited to try to 'flip it.'
-The squirrels at our house are very tricksy! We have seen a lot of amazing acrobat skills from the squirrels as they work on eating out of our bird feeders. We need to get some of those special cones to keep them away. Also we got a hummingbird feeder-- so excited. I am getting to be a crazy, bird lady, but I really just enjoy seeing what I can attract to the yard.
-Sidenote: my phone totally died without warning so we lost some of our photos. I was totally heartbroken when this happened. Luckily many were backed up and we have them on our blog, social media, and other places. There are some photos we just can't get back. :-(
That's all for now... wish everyone luck and happiness as we merge two households until the Chalupskys have their new house. :-)
Cheers! Colleen
Things we've done or accomplished since our last post:
- Bought our first piece of furniture that wasn't from Goodwill (thrift store/ charity shop). A few weeks ago Rob and I bough a couch. It was out of stock but finally arrived and we picked it up last night. It is a perfect addition to our living room. It feels great to make a grown-up purchase and start creating some space where things match!
-On the note of matching... we have also been hanging curtains throughout the house and purchasing area rugs. We initially purchased these things for the living room, however after a total clearance bargain find we have new carpet in the blue room too.
-We bought a new (larger) chest freezer. We broke our chest freeze when we moved... or so we thought. After purchasing our new freezer and plugging it in, Rob figured out the freezers weren't working because the outlets in the basement are hooked into the light switch that is at the top of the basement steps. So now we have TWO freezers!
-We've become pretty expert at hanging up curtain rods!
-We rehung all the door. We figured our 'open living plan' wasn't the best option when you have two households living under one roof. We were also told a curtain as a bathroom door was a serious deal breaker. The bathroom door was the most challenging one, but we worked through it and have a door that works for now.
-We updated all knobs/ handles on the doors. A lot of the old knobs didn't stay on very well, so we bought some new ones and set about changing them. They look and work FABULOUS! We were having a hard time keeping our bedroom door closed and I came up with a great solution. It involved using a closer latch that you'd use for a kitchen cabinet. It was a very proud for me and it works like a charm.
-We bought a pool!! Not a big one or a fancy one, but a fun one, when it is warm enough to get in. We also hosted our first pool party ever and it RAINED the whole time! We had checked the weather and it said it was going to be drizzly in the morning but it should end between 12 and 1 pm. So we told everyone to come over at 2 pm. Well the morning ended up being lovely, but as soon as our guests pulled into the driveway... the rain started. We had a totally bummed out three-year-old on our hands. Luckily, we have lots of space and I had a few new-to-her toys tucked away. We did get in the pool a little bit, but it was nothing like we planned. The guys ended up hanging out in the garage and grilling massive amounts of food. It was also during our pool party that we discovered our warming tray works... but that there was plastic under the drawer. Once we got that out it was great.
-We got some new patio furniture. It was a hand-me-down from my sister's work friend. It is significantly larger than what we had previously. It is a little bit beat up, but I am very excited to try to 'flip it.'
-The squirrels at our house are very tricksy! We have seen a lot of amazing acrobat skills from the squirrels as they work on eating out of our bird feeders. We need to get some of those special cones to keep them away. Also we got a hummingbird feeder-- so excited. I am getting to be a crazy, bird lady, but I really just enjoy seeing what I can attract to the yard.
-Sidenote: my phone totally died without warning so we lost some of our photos. I was totally heartbroken when this happened. Luckily many were backed up and we have them on our blog, social media, and other places. There are some photos we just can't get back. :-(
That's all for now... wish everyone luck and happiness as we merge two households until the Chalupskys have their new house. :-)
Cheers! Colleen
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Finallly... an update
Whew! What a CRAZY two weeks this has been since we moved in. It seems like the two weeks we've lived at the house have flown by. We moved in on Saturday, May 30 and checked out of our apartment on the 31st. The next few days were busy. We moved furniture and boxes but lived in a pretty crowded area until Wednesday evening when we could move everything into the correct room because the living room and master bedroom floors were done curing. So we stayed up late moving stuff around on Wednesday. And Thursday morning I took off to Milwaukee to officiate a roller derby tournament. I worked at 12 games over the course of three days and returned home Monday night to a more unpacked house than when I left. It was fantastic. Rob has been an absolute champ at unpacking... me not so much. I think part of this is it is only JUST hitting me that we actually own this house! I had a moment on Thursday when I walked into the kitchen and thought to myself, "Oh my gosh... we OWN this."
Last week not much happened. A bit of unpacking (by Rob) here and there, but overall we just sort of laid low. We had been working so hard on the house it was nice to take a little breather. Also for me, I was adjusting to life in a new classroom full of energetic three-year-olds and a new teaching team! Every night I came home pretty tired from the new adventures.
This weekend however we got back at it! On Saturday we installed a new shower head, hung several hooks in our bathroom, did some yard work and did a bit of unpacking / rearranging. We also went and looked at some new furniture. In the process of moving we noticed a crossbar on the underside of our couch was bowing so we used the rubber mallet to correct it, but accidentally knocked out some nails that held the crossbar in place. When you sat on the couch the crossbar would fall out the bottom. :-( We have temporarily fixed it, but we know the time is coming when it will need to be replaced. This isn't a surprise; (for anyone who doesn't know) the couch we have now is older than me!! It is a bright orange couch from my grandparents house. It has been a good couch, but sadly we know it will be time to say goodbye soon. Even when we were doing the temporary fix as you move it, you hear all kinds of metal that's shaken loose inside. We were surprised when we were shopping by the number of orange couches available, apparently it is coming back into style!
We also opened up one of our basement windows on Saturday. All of the basement windows had been sealed off inside and out, so we took off all the coverings and discovered a window that's in pretty rough shape, but will hopefully hold up for a bit. In the mean time it is nice just to get a bit of light into the basement. The basement windows are the old system where there is a storm and a screen so we traded out the broken storm window for the screen so we can let a bit of air into the basement too. We are saying a prayer that with these changes the basement remains watertight.
Once we moved in and showered here we realized how terrible the shower head was. So with a bit of courage, and a walk to the local automotive store to buy some wrenches/ pliers, we installed a new shower head Saturday night. I love that we have a few stores within walking distance that we can take advantage of.
Yesterday (Sunday) I was gone most of the day and not much got accomplished at the house. I attended a benefit for a very close family friend who is about to celebrate his 30th birthday and is battling cancer for the second time in his life. His wife also has medical issues and needs a new pacemaker. They are a very nice young couple who have been met with some tough medical times, so it was great to gather everyone up and raise some money to help them out. I was really excited though because in the silent auction I was the top bidder for a 'bird lovers' package. It included two bird houses, two bird feeders, a bird water dish, and all the feed for the feeders! Tonight I put the first feeder out (the only one that was ready and easy to attach) and have been patiently waiting for the birds to find it. I am just hoping the birds find it before the squirrels. It is in our front yard so that we can see it through the window while we watch TV. We are definitely joining our elderly neighbors in the pursuit of bird watching!
That's really all for now. I should go help Rob as he's been unpacking the whole time I've been writing. He really gets all the credit for unpacking!
Last week not much happened. A bit of unpacking (by Rob) here and there, but overall we just sort of laid low. We had been working so hard on the house it was nice to take a little breather. Also for me, I was adjusting to life in a new classroom full of energetic three-year-olds and a new teaching team! Every night I came home pretty tired from the new adventures.
This weekend however we got back at it! On Saturday we installed a new shower head, hung several hooks in our bathroom, did some yard work and did a bit of unpacking / rearranging. We also went and looked at some new furniture. In the process of moving we noticed a crossbar on the underside of our couch was bowing so we used the rubber mallet to correct it, but accidentally knocked out some nails that held the crossbar in place. When you sat on the couch the crossbar would fall out the bottom. :-( We have temporarily fixed it, but we know the time is coming when it will need to be replaced. This isn't a surprise; (for anyone who doesn't know) the couch we have now is older than me!! It is a bright orange couch from my grandparents house. It has been a good couch, but sadly we know it will be time to say goodbye soon. Even when we were doing the temporary fix as you move it, you hear all kinds of metal that's shaken loose inside. We were surprised when we were shopping by the number of orange couches available, apparently it is coming back into style!
We also opened up one of our basement windows on Saturday. All of the basement windows had been sealed off inside and out, so we took off all the coverings and discovered a window that's in pretty rough shape, but will hopefully hold up for a bit. In the mean time it is nice just to get a bit of light into the basement. The basement windows are the old system where there is a storm and a screen so we traded out the broken storm window for the screen so we can let a bit of air into the basement too. We are saying a prayer that with these changes the basement remains watertight.
Once we moved in and showered here we realized how terrible the shower head was. So with a bit of courage, and a walk to the local automotive store to buy some wrenches/ pliers, we installed a new shower head Saturday night. I love that we have a few stores within walking distance that we can take advantage of.
Yesterday (Sunday) I was gone most of the day and not much got accomplished at the house. I attended a benefit for a very close family friend who is about to celebrate his 30th birthday and is battling cancer for the second time in his life. His wife also has medical issues and needs a new pacemaker. They are a very nice young couple who have been met with some tough medical times, so it was great to gather everyone up and raise some money to help them out. I was really excited though because in the silent auction I was the top bidder for a 'bird lovers' package. It included two bird houses, two bird feeders, a bird water dish, and all the feed for the feeders! Tonight I put the first feeder out (the only one that was ready and easy to attach) and have been patiently waiting for the birds to find it. I am just hoping the birds find it before the squirrels. It is in our front yard so that we can see it through the window while we watch TV. We are definitely joining our elderly neighbors in the pursuit of bird watching!
That's really all for now. I should go help Rob as he's been unpacking the whole time I've been writing. He really gets all the credit for unpacking!
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Monday, June 1, 2015
Officially home
Please bear with us as we are so slow in updating. It is officially official, we are moved in to our house! We had help from my family, the Starks, and Auntie TT, to move all the big stuff on Saturday. Lots of hands (and vehicles)made for fewer trips and lighter work.Then we cleaned and cleaned,and did a final inspection at our apartment on Sunday before turning in our keys. We can't move everything to where it belongs until Wednesday. This will allow the floors to be fully cured. As I said, please bear with us, life is a little crazy. On top of moving homes, I am also moving classrooms at work, which means I have to pack everything up there. And the icing on the cake is that I will be working my first derby tournament in Milwaukee this weekend (12 games in 3 days!). So to say life is a bit of an upheaval is no exaggeration. We will be getting internet set up this weekend, so I will attempt a large post once we are up and running since updating on the tablet is tricky.
Cheers for your patience!
Colleen (and Rob)
Monday, May 25, 2015
Mad dash
This weekend has been a bit of a mad dash to finish our last BIG project before our house is move-in ready. So it is with much exhilaration that we can say our floors are finished! I will give more of a run down later, but we wanted to share the exciting news.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Getting closer...
It is amazing how when we don't blog every day we literally can't remember what we do each day because it all blurs together. This is the case for Monday! All we can remember doing is removing the outlet covers and surely we did more than that!
Tuesday started nice and early for me. Rob set up for the plumber to come around and fix the bathtub on Tuesday morning at 7:30 am and somehow, I ended heading over to let the plumber in while Rob slept peacefully. HA! I call that convenient scheduling on his part. He did say I didn't NEED to go over there, but I am still not sure how the plumber would've gotten in. Long story short... we have a working bathtub!!
Tuesday night Rob got the grass cut back into some normalcy and Mom and Dad came over for dinner and to help us do some electrical work. When we moved in, there were no three-prong, grounded plugs in the living room and one of the bedrooms. It is most helpful when sanding floors to be able to have open access to grounded plugs, so Dad helped us put some in. (OH YEAH... that's what we did on Monday... went to Menard's and picked up all the plugs.) We successfully changed out seven plugs and we have just a few more to go!
Today was a big day at work for me: GRADUATION DAY!! My preschoolers all did great and I arrived to the house much more relaxed with that finished. We accomplished a TON tonight. We got the master bedroom painted (BRIGHT yellow)-- two coats. And we painted the ceiling, which was quite the experience. That was a lot trickier than it looked, but it had to be done. When we took the paneling off there was a lot of exposed pink ceiling that just didn't seem to want to be covered. We tried a few options before opting to just paint the whole ceiling. We also started our last little bit of scraping... the bedroom closet. This was by far the WORST floor in the whole house. It is the smallest amount of space we have to scrape, but it is the thickest and most difficult. I decided whomever tiled either started in the closet when they didn't know what they were doing or they ended in the closet when they just didn't care! We are sooo ready to get the floors finished.
We are really starting to see everything come together and are getting ready to move in. It seems very bizarre that in just a couple of weeks all of our stuff will be in the house and we will be sitting in the living room, watching TV, and we won't be going there every night to work. I made Rob promise me tonight that one of the first weekends, once we get a bit settled we can have one day where we just enjoy the house, the grill, the yard, etc and not do a touch of work. He agreed!
That's all for now...
Colleen
Tuesday started nice and early for me. Rob set up for the plumber to come around and fix the bathtub on Tuesday morning at 7:30 am and somehow, I ended heading over to let the plumber in while Rob slept peacefully. HA! I call that convenient scheduling on his part. He did say I didn't NEED to go over there, but I am still not sure how the plumber would've gotten in. Long story short... we have a working bathtub!!
Tuesday night Rob got the grass cut back into some normalcy and Mom and Dad came over for dinner and to help us do some electrical work. When we moved in, there were no three-prong, grounded plugs in the living room and one of the bedrooms. It is most helpful when sanding floors to be able to have open access to grounded plugs, so Dad helped us put some in. (OH YEAH... that's what we did on Monday... went to Menard's and picked up all the plugs.) We successfully changed out seven plugs and we have just a few more to go!
Today was a big day at work for me: GRADUATION DAY!! My preschoolers all did great and I arrived to the house much more relaxed with that finished. We accomplished a TON tonight. We got the master bedroom painted (BRIGHT yellow)-- two coats. And we painted the ceiling, which was quite the experience. That was a lot trickier than it looked, but it had to be done. When we took the paneling off there was a lot of exposed pink ceiling that just didn't seem to want to be covered. We tried a few options before opting to just paint the whole ceiling. We also started our last little bit of scraping... the bedroom closet. This was by far the WORST floor in the whole house. It is the smallest amount of space we have to scrape, but it is the thickest and most difficult. I decided whomever tiled either started in the closet when they didn't know what they were doing or they ended in the closet when they just didn't care! We are sooo ready to get the floors finished.
We are really starting to see everything come together and are getting ready to move in. It seems very bizarre that in just a couple of weeks all of our stuff will be in the house and we will be sitting in the living room, watching TV, and we won't be going there every night to work. I made Rob promise me tonight that one of the first weekends, once we get a bit settled we can have one day where we just enjoy the house, the grill, the yard, etc and not do a touch of work. He agreed!
That's all for now...
Colleen
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Can I help?
Today we got off to a slow start, mostly because of the super fun times we had dancing last night at my cousin's wedding reception! But eventually we dragged ourselves over to the house. On the list for today was putting our last coat of finish on the bedroom floors and attempting to paint the living room. We also DESPERATELY needed to get the backyard mowed. We were hoping the morning rains wouldn't make it too wet and we'd get that done. Unfortunately only a portion of it was accomplished. The spring Minnesota rains are not really cooperating with our need to get the grass cut!
Rob and I figured it would be just him and I working today. We knew it was going to be pretty low key and we figured everyone would be tired from the wedding, so we didn't 'call in the troops.' But low and behold, we ended up with lots of help! Mom and Dad went and picked up our amazing grill from Chad and Beth's house. They beat us to the house and got the grill unloaded and everything. They were going to stay just briefly because they were going to head to Becky and Jeremy's to do some work, but we got a phone call from them and they got a last minute rescheduled showing (of their house) and ended up coming over to our house. It is really nice that we have the space and means to have everyone over.
Dad (and Becky and Jeremy) all offered to cut our backyard for us. We are so thankful. As I said, it needs to be done, but we've been so busy and on such a tight schedule inside the house that its been pushed off. And twice when I've planned to do it, it rained! So Dad went to work on taming the jungle back there.
After Annalynne checked out our floor that we painted with 'stinky stuff,' she asked what we were working on today. When she found out we were painting she wanted to know "Can I help?" We asked if it would be ok for her to help out, then braided her hair and threw her into one of my working tops so she didn't get paint on her clothes. Then we set her loose. She loved it!! What a fun thing to be able to do on a rainy afternoon when you can't play outside. She was so proud of her work and kept asking everyone to paint with her. It was a win for us as well, since we got the entire living room painted!
We also got a live concert of Mom playing guitar while Annalynne sang. We were busy painting and she really wanted to strum the guitar, so Mom helped her out.
At the end of the night, Rob and I buffed and put down our last coat of finish on the back two bedrooms. They look fantastic and we can't wait until we get to do the living room and master bedroom.
Happy Sunday!
Rob and I figured it would be just him and I working today. We knew it was going to be pretty low key and we figured everyone would be tired from the wedding, so we didn't 'call in the troops.' But low and behold, we ended up with lots of help! Mom and Dad went and picked up our amazing grill from Chad and Beth's house. They beat us to the house and got the grill unloaded and everything. They were going to stay just briefly because they were going to head to Becky and Jeremy's to do some work, but we got a phone call from them and they got a last minute rescheduled showing (of their house) and ended up coming over to our house. It is really nice that we have the space and means to have everyone over.
Dad (and Becky and Jeremy) all offered to cut our backyard for us. We are so thankful. As I said, it needs to be done, but we've been so busy and on such a tight schedule inside the house that its been pushed off. And twice when I've planned to do it, it rained! So Dad went to work on taming the jungle back there.
After Annalynne checked out our floor that we painted with 'stinky stuff,' she asked what we were working on today. When she found out we were painting she wanted to know "Can I help?" We asked if it would be ok for her to help out, then braided her hair and threw her into one of my working tops so she didn't get paint on her clothes. Then we set her loose. She loved it!! What a fun thing to be able to do on a rainy afternoon when you can't play outside. She was so proud of her work and kept asking everyone to paint with her. It was a win for us as well, since we got the entire living room painted!
We also got a live concert of Mom playing guitar while Annalynne sang. We were busy painting and she really wanted to strum the guitar, so Mom helped her out.
At the end of the night, Rob and I buffed and put down our last coat of finish on the back two bedrooms. They look fantastic and we can't wait until we get to do the living room and master bedroom.
Happy Sunday!
We got a grill!!!!
We want to give a big shout out of THANKS to "The" Chad and Beth Klebs for giving us a grill! We are sooooo excited to have such an amazing grill passed on to us and can't wait to use it. We really wanted to grill dinner tonight, but since it decided to downpour on and off through out the day, we were out of luck. Check out the pictures of how beautiful it is:
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Up All Night
Yesterday (Friday) I went after work to pick up the buffer and all our supplies to finish our floor sanding project in the back two bedrooms and discovered it is optimal to apply the first two coats of finish four hours apart. So the question became... stay up late or get up early? We have my cousin's wedding this afternoon so we had a tough choice. But we decided to stay up late.
Rob got to work on doing the finishing touches (i.e. scraping down the corners, sanding out any remaining edger swirl, etc) as soon as he got home from work. I met him shortly there after with all our supplies. We made decent time and even had several visitors!
We discovered running the buffer is so much fun!! I really enjoyed it.
We started our first coat, Quick Dry sealer, at 10 p.m. and with some quick cutting in from Rob around the edges and me running the longer pole, we accomplished the first coat of finish in approximately 30 minutes! It was really cool to see that coat go on and really make the beauty of the wood and the amber richness come out. After we finished, I was sooo hungry (since Rob had eaten at a work meeting, we didn't really have dinner). So we headed to Jimmy's, of course! It was nice to get out of the house for our 4 hour time frame because it was stinky!!
When we got back from Jimmy's we still had another two hours to wait, so we took a little nap in the car, hauled boxes into the house, and finished laundry.
At 2:30 am, we started our second coat. We discovered the second coat is a lot harder to see if you've got any skips (missed spots) because there is already the amber color to the wood. But we accomplished our second coat in approximately the same time as the first. We make a great team!
Then we headed back to the apartment and went straight to bed!
House-wise today will be pretty quiet, since we have the wedding, BUT it is so nice to have a day off once in a while and we are looking forward to seeing my whole family!
Rob got to work on doing the finishing touches (i.e. scraping down the corners, sanding out any remaining edger swirl, etc) as soon as he got home from work. I met him shortly there after with all our supplies. We made decent time and even had several visitors!
We discovered running the buffer is so much fun!! I really enjoyed it.
We started our first coat, Quick Dry sealer, at 10 p.m. and with some quick cutting in from Rob around the edges and me running the longer pole, we accomplished the first coat of finish in approximately 30 minutes! It was really cool to see that coat go on and really make the beauty of the wood and the amber richness come out. After we finished, I was sooo hungry (since Rob had eaten at a work meeting, we didn't really have dinner). So we headed to Jimmy's, of course! It was nice to get out of the house for our 4 hour time frame because it was stinky!!
 |
| Rob's mask to help keep the stink out! |
When we got back from Jimmy's we still had another two hours to wait, so we took a little nap in the car, hauled boxes into the house, and finished laundry.
At 2:30 am, we started our second coat. We discovered the second coat is a lot harder to see if you've got any skips (missed spots) because there is already the amber color to the wood. But we accomplished our second coat in approximately the same time as the first. We make a great team!
Then we headed back to the apartment and went straight to bed!
House-wise today will be pretty quiet, since we have the wedding, BUT it is so nice to have a day off once in a while and we are looking forward to seeing my whole family!
 |
| Painting out the closet |
Thursday, May 14, 2015
CrAzY bUsY
As I am sure you can tell from the sporadic nature of our posts we have been crazy busy. It is hard to believe we have already owned the house for more than two weeks and that our month to work is half over! We've been spending a lot of time getting ready to sand and as you can see from Rob's post earlier today. . . it is paying off in dividends! We are so excited to see the bare wood and tomorrow I am going to get the buffer after work. We need to buff and then we can begin applying finish. Once we apply the finish in the two bedrooms and half the hall and it dries, we will be able to move in!! I am really looking forward to being able to stay there. Going back and forth and spending sooooo many hours working is really draining on both of us, but will totally be worth it.
Monday: we did more scraping in the living room and I discovered the art of things that take more time than they really should! It took me a bit over an hour to remove a piece of carpet that was approximately four inches by four inches. In order to get that piece of carpet off the hardwood floor in the hallway I had to remove all the tracking for and subsequently the bathroom door. I mean really for a tiny piece of carpet. Gah! Rob and I also had fun taking turns sinking nails. I'm sure the neighbors loved us for doing that at 9:30 pm. We try to be respectful of noise with the consideration that we also have to get things done at times.
Tuesday: We started our morning out nice and early with a lesson in sanding from Pete's Hardwood Floors. It was really fun and made me realize this was going to be a fun but tough final step in making our floors look amazing. After being complimented on my great ability to edge in a squatted position it was discovered that the owner of the store is a former roller girl! Rob got to see firsthand what an instant and amazing connection roller derby can forge with someone you've never met before. I also discovered that my boss's father-in-law is a plumber who lives / works near WBL (White Bear Lake, the city we live in). I felt like Tuesday was a lot about having the right person at the right time nearby.
Rob closed on Tuesday night, so following our lesson he went to the house and tried to finish up all the final touches to be ready for sanding on Wednesday. And what he didn't get finished up, he text me, and I headed over after work to finish. We make a good team!
Wednesday: Brought on the sanding. Check out the photos here!
Today: Rob returned all our sanding equipment this morning and then stopped by the house to commandeer the microwave back to our apartment. Honestly, it is silly but this has been one of the most inconvenient things about being between homes. I never realized how much we use our microwave! Today is the very first day since we closed that I have not gone to the house! I went to practice tonight, as I have to keep my skills somewhat sharpened since I am heading off to officiate two tournaments in the next two months. Then I came home and took care of many change of address things. Rob made us a great list of what needs to be done and a quick overview schedule since we are in crunch time to get finished and out of our apartment by the end of May!!
It feels great (and somewhat terrifying) to know we're in the homestretch. We are sore and tired and excited. I love seeing everything come together as we create our home. One of the things we've learned this week is that sanding can be somewhat tricky because you may not discover a divot or an edge swirl you made in the process until you apply the finish to the floor. But as I told Rob last night, I can't wait to look at that imperfection that may be exposed and say... "I DID THAT!!" As tiring as the process of redoing our house is, it is equally satisfying and amazing.
Cheers! Colleen
Monday: we did more scraping in the living room and I discovered the art of things that take more time than they really should! It took me a bit over an hour to remove a piece of carpet that was approximately four inches by four inches. In order to get that piece of carpet off the hardwood floor in the hallway I had to remove all the tracking for and subsequently the bathroom door. I mean really for a tiny piece of carpet. Gah! Rob and I also had fun taking turns sinking nails. I'm sure the neighbors loved us for doing that at 9:30 pm. We try to be respectful of noise with the consideration that we also have to get things done at times.
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Tuesday: We started our morning out nice and early with a lesson in sanding from Pete's Hardwood Floors. It was really fun and made me realize this was going to be a fun but tough final step in making our floors look amazing. After being complimented on my great ability to edge in a squatted position it was discovered that the owner of the store is a former roller girl! Rob got to see firsthand what an instant and amazing connection roller derby can forge with someone you've never met before. I also discovered that my boss's father-in-law is a plumber who lives / works near WBL (White Bear Lake, the city we live in). I felt like Tuesday was a lot about having the right person at the right time nearby.
Rob closed on Tuesday night, so following our lesson he went to the house and tried to finish up all the final touches to be ready for sanding on Wednesday. And what he didn't get finished up, he text me, and I headed over after work to finish. We make a good team!
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| Rob running the edger |
Today: Rob returned all our sanding equipment this morning and then stopped by the house to commandeer the microwave back to our apartment. Honestly, it is silly but this has been one of the most inconvenient things about being between homes. I never realized how much we use our microwave! Today is the very first day since we closed that I have not gone to the house! I went to practice tonight, as I have to keep my skills somewhat sharpened since I am heading off to officiate two tournaments in the next two months. Then I came home and took care of many change of address things. Rob made us a great list of what needs to be done and a quick overview schedule since we are in crunch time to get finished and out of our apartment by the end of May!!
It feels great (and somewhat terrifying) to know we're in the homestretch. We are sore and tired and excited. I love seeing everything come together as we create our home. One of the things we've learned this week is that sanding can be somewhat tricky because you may not discover a divot or an edge swirl you made in the process until you apply the finish to the floor. But as I told Rob last night, I can't wait to look at that imperfection that may be exposed and say... "I DID THAT!!" As tiring as the process of redoing our house is, it is equally satisfying and amazing.
Cheers! Colleen
Bedroom Floors
Got the sanders rented today. After four passes and eleven hours the floors are back to bare wood!
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| Brown Room before |
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| Blue Room before |
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| Brown Room after third pass |
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| Brown Room after first pass |
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| Blue Room after first pass |
Monday, May 11, 2015
Busy Week, Busy Weekend
Thanks for checking out our blog. We are doing our best to keep updating it, but sometimes it is a little tricky as we are going to work each morning, then straight to the house, and some nights we're not coming home until 11 pm or midnight. Tonight we left a bit early, around 10 pm, since we both work early in the morning.
As you saw in Rob's previous post we have been busy stripping! The floor in the master bedroom is looking great. On Thursday, Rob closes his store, so I headed to the house after work and decided I was going to get through at least the first round of stripping for the whole master bedroom (or work until I ran out of stripper). As anyone who knows me knows, when I set my mind to something I accomplish it. I worked until midnight, but darn it: I finished the whole room!! It was a bit of a challenge for me. You can only apply stripper to the placed you can reach, so I had to strategically figure out where to apply stripper to maximize my time and efforts, but not end up with areas I couldn't reach. So I would paint the stripper on, wait the 20 minutes while working on other things, then get to work. Repeat this til I finished the room and presto-- the first stripping of the room was finished. There is a lot of touch-up or areas that need reapplication and scraping, but it is amazing to see how far it has come. I also took all the doors off and hauled them to the basement. This is something we need to do in order to be ready to sand the floors. I also painted the swatches for our bedroom color, so we could pick one. I felt great leaving Thursday night, knowing I had accomplished so much!
Friday was a night off. We had the Wheelies (end of the year awards and banquet) for the Minnesota RollerGirls. It was nice to have a night off!!
Saturday we celebrated (American) Mother's Day with my family. I brought three different salads, all of which were prepared in our new kitchen! Rob joined us after work and when we left my parent's house we headed over to work on our house. We knocked out another coat of paint on the 'brown bedroom.' And we did a bit of sanding, spackling, and primed the entire master bedroom. It is amazing how even a coat of primer can transform a room that has walls of three different colors. We also started taping the living room so we can paint it quickly and easily. We can finally see everything coming together, which is amazing!
Today (Sunday), I headed over to the house with my parents while Rob was at work. Dad helped us get our lawn mower in working order and even gave the front yard a cut! He also put our snow blower to 'sleep' for the summer. He says we got a good bargain... that both the lawn mower and snow blower are good! While Dad worked on that, Mom painted our final coat on the 'brown' bedroom. We didn't like the way the walls looked because we had to use a long nap roller, so doing one last coat with a shorter nap made it look nice. I worked on getting all the staples out of the floor in the blue bedroom. This way we are totally ready to go for sanding. When Rob arrived after work, my parents left for the evening and he and I headed to the shop to get some food. I have taken more kitchen things around to the house because quite frankly we are eating many more meals there than at the apartment. It is so nice to be able to throw together some quick meals so we can keep working! Tonight Rob put another coat of primer on the master bedroom. While I did a bit of trim work on the primer, then took the tape off the trim in the 'brown bedroom.' That bedroom looks AWESOME! I am so glad we decided to paint it white and keep the dark trim. It looks very nice. I also worked on getting the final slab of laminate out of the front hall closet. In order to do that I had to remove the baseboard and the 'wood paneling' plywood. We discovered that some work will need to be done in that closet, but nothing unmanageable. Rob worked on getting the hall floor stripped and started stripping the living room floor. We are hoping to sand and finish the 'brown, now white' bedroom and blue bedroom, along with the hall, so we can start thinking about moving in more permanently. Today also brought the realization that we need an expert's help for our snapped pipe under the tub. I find great respect in knowing when to call in an expert and quite frankly we have older plumbing and we don't want to make matters worse. Also while the plumber is there I will get them to look at the kitchen sink and see if we can't get more hot water flowing!
Overall it has been a great week and weekend. I can't believe how quickly time is flying and how much we accomplish each and every day!
Colleen
As you saw in Rob's previous post we have been busy stripping! The floor in the master bedroom is looking great. On Thursday, Rob closes his store, so I headed to the house after work and decided I was going to get through at least the first round of stripping for the whole master bedroom (or work until I ran out of stripper). As anyone who knows me knows, when I set my mind to something I accomplish it. I worked until midnight, but darn it: I finished the whole room!! It was a bit of a challenge for me. You can only apply stripper to the placed you can reach, so I had to strategically figure out where to apply stripper to maximize my time and efforts, but not end up with areas I couldn't reach. So I would paint the stripper on, wait the 20 minutes while working on other things, then get to work. Repeat this til I finished the room and presto-- the first stripping of the room was finished. There is a lot of touch-up or areas that need reapplication and scraping, but it is amazing to see how far it has come. I also took all the doors off and hauled them to the basement. This is something we need to do in order to be ready to sand the floors. I also painted the swatches for our bedroom color, so we could pick one. I felt great leaving Thursday night, knowing I had accomplished so much!
Friday was a night off. We had the Wheelies (end of the year awards and banquet) for the Minnesota RollerGirls. It was nice to have a night off!!
Saturday we celebrated (American) Mother's Day with my family. I brought three different salads, all of which were prepared in our new kitchen! Rob joined us after work and when we left my parent's house we headed over to work on our house. We knocked out another coat of paint on the 'brown bedroom.' And we did a bit of sanding, spackling, and primed the entire master bedroom. It is amazing how even a coat of primer can transform a room that has walls of three different colors. We also started taping the living room so we can paint it quickly and easily. We can finally see everything coming together, which is amazing!
Today (Sunday), I headed over to the house with my parents while Rob was at work. Dad helped us get our lawn mower in working order and even gave the front yard a cut! He also put our snow blower to 'sleep' for the summer. He says we got a good bargain... that both the lawn mower and snow blower are good! While Dad worked on that, Mom painted our final coat on the 'brown' bedroom. We didn't like the way the walls looked because we had to use a long nap roller, so doing one last coat with a shorter nap made it look nice. I worked on getting all the staples out of the floor in the blue bedroom. This way we are totally ready to go for sanding. When Rob arrived after work, my parents left for the evening and he and I headed to the shop to get some food. I have taken more kitchen things around to the house because quite frankly we are eating many more meals there than at the apartment. It is so nice to be able to throw together some quick meals so we can keep working! Tonight Rob put another coat of primer on the master bedroom. While I did a bit of trim work on the primer, then took the tape off the trim in the 'brown bedroom.' That bedroom looks AWESOME! I am so glad we decided to paint it white and keep the dark trim. It looks very nice. I also worked on getting the final slab of laminate out of the front hall closet. In order to do that I had to remove the baseboard and the 'wood paneling' plywood. We discovered that some work will need to be done in that closet, but nothing unmanageable. Rob worked on getting the hall floor stripped and started stripping the living room floor. We are hoping to sand and finish the 'brown, now white' bedroom and blue bedroom, along with the hall, so we can start thinking about moving in more permanently. Today also brought the realization that we need an expert's help for our snapped pipe under the tub. I find great respect in knowing when to call in an expert and quite frankly we have older plumbing and we don't want to make matters worse. Also while the plumber is there I will get them to look at the kitchen sink and see if we can't get more hot water flowing!
Overall it has been a great week and weekend. I can't believe how quickly time is flying and how much we accomplish each and every day!
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| Brown bedroom after |
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| Brown bedroom before |
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| Mom painting the last coat of white |
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| Front hall closet. Uh-oh... more work! |
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| Hallway stripped |
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| Master bedroom after the first go with the stripper! |
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| On Wednesday, I came home from work to find Rob wearing sweatpants!! This was a special purchase for working on the house and I have never seen him wear sweat pants before. I had to capture the moment. He has even worn them in public TWICE!! |
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Being Strippers
The past few days the bedroom floor had been giving us grief. The cement that held the tiles down was not coming off. We tried some things the floor place had suggested but after three hours of scrapping we had only taken off a tiny patch and it looked like we would have to give up on the hardwood floors and put down carpet.
It was at that point, wrists aching, that we decided to strip.
That is to say buy some potent adhesive removal floor stripper. This stuff melted away the cement (and a good portion of the skin on my forearms) like a charm. We got half the floor done in the same amount of time as our little patch earlier.
Jobs a good'un
RP
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Day 4... Lots of Mud
Rob and I made our first stop of the day at Menards before heading over to the house. We needed some white paint for the 'brown room' and some new color samples for the living room since we didn't like either of the colors from yesterday. I was also in desperate need of a step stool! We picked up some mud for the drywall too.
We met Mom, Dad, Becky, Jeremy, Annalynne, and Louie at our house. The Chalupskys weren't planning on coming over, but when Annalynne heard that Grandma and Papa got to go to our house, she wanted to go too!
Today Rob and Dad taped and mudded all the drywall they installed yesterday. We also taped the edges and finished the priming in the 'brown room,' and what a difference even the primer makes! It is no longer a deep, dark hole. And while all that happened, Mom scrubbed our screen and washed our windows. It makes the living room so much brighter. After trying the two new samples we bought, Rob and I decided on one we like. I can't wait to paint the whole room!
We were there for the heavy rain and hail that hit during the early evening hours. I was actually very thankful we were there so we could check out how the house held up in rain. As suspected, we learned a few things and added a few items to our to do list. And most importantly...lots of mud outside, but the basement stayed dry!
It was a bit of a shorter day, because you can only burn the candle at both ends for so long before you need a little break. We also needed a few things, like groceries, to have the rest of the week go smoothly.
Rob and I did a big clean up before we left and gave items a home. It is feeling more and more like our home each time we go there. I think it is a combination of more of our own items being there and just getting used to the idea that we own a home. It is still a little surreal that this is our home. We love it more and more each time we go there, and can't wait to get the floor finished and walls painted so we can move in!
Colleen
We met Mom, Dad, Becky, Jeremy, Annalynne, and Louie at our house. The Chalupskys weren't planning on coming over, but when Annalynne heard that Grandma and Papa got to go to our house, she wanted to go too!
Today Rob and Dad taped and mudded all the drywall they installed yesterday. We also taped the edges and finished the priming in the 'brown room,' and what a difference even the primer makes! It is no longer a deep, dark hole. And while all that happened, Mom scrubbed our screen and washed our windows. It makes the living room so much brighter. After trying the two new samples we bought, Rob and I decided on one we like. I can't wait to paint the whole room!
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| Rob mudding |
It was a bit of a shorter day, because you can only burn the candle at both ends for so long before you need a little break. We also needed a few things, like groceries, to have the rest of the week go smoothly.
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| Dad mudding |
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| Brown room primed |
Colleen
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| Brown room before |
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| Brown room during |
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| The master bedroom. You can also see why we were concerned if we could salvage the hardwood under all this tile glue and grout. |
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| Mudding and taping done! |
Day 3... Beginning to recreate!
**Sorry for the delay on this post we had a few technical difficulties (i.e. nothing would post from my phone).
Sadly we have finished my favorite part for now, the demo!
While we were ripping the tile out on Friday, I told Rob this ranked right up there with demoing house down to the studs when I went to New Orleans in 2006. I find something extremely satisfying about demo work and seeing the progress you can accomplish in short time.
Day three got us up nice and early In the morning. We were finished dropping everything off by 7:15 am. So we grabbed a quick breakfast, then got to work
After removing all the wood paneling in the master bedroom, we discovered two of the three walls were in really rough shape. So we decided to put up 3/8" drywall over the existing walls to give us a nice, clean finish. But first we had to clean up the existing walls a bit. So we scrubbed them down and let them dry. Then my Dad and I took a trip to Menards. I discovered a whole new area of the store I never knew existed! I never knew you had to go to a separate desk to order the drywall, then drive around the lumberyard to the correct door to pick it up. It was definitely an adventure and my Dad was so proud to take me to buy my first drywall!
While we washed wall, my Mom helped us wash out all our kitchen cupboards and closets to get ready for loading them with our things.
While Dad and I went to get drywall, Rob cleared the entire master bedroom. No easy feat! We had taken up all the tile and taken down all the wood paneling; all of which got stacked at the sides of the room, because the garage was full of carpet and other things for spring cleaning day. It was awesome that he was able to clear it all while we were gone.
We came back with the drywall and Rob and Dad got to work. Rob learned all the ways of drywalling, while I busied myself washing the walls in the 'brown room,' such named for the DARK wood paneling that covers all the walls. I also emailed with Pete's Hardwood Floors. Additionally, I had picked up some paint samples for the living room, so I painted three swatches throughout the room so we can see how each color looks like in different light.
We found out our floors are salvageable, but are going to take some significant work from us. And about six to seven days of work, start to finish. We feel it is worth it to have some beautiful hardwood floors and increase our home's value.
By the time we left for the night, around 7 pm, the master bedroom had all the drywall up and the brown room had two walls primed.
Non-renovation notes:
- We did laundry-- without quarters or to-the-minute timers! It was amazing!!!
- We met one of our neighbors. She is an 87-year-old woman who raised eight children, and knits 800 pairs of mittens per year to donate to local schools, food shelves, and other organizations.
- Louie visited! He brought Becky, Jeremy, and Annalynne along with him. He got to test out the new yard. He loved running around the yard and sniffing everything! And our fence kept him in the yard. Reinforcing the fence is on our to do list, but it works for now.
Colleen
Sadly we have finished my favorite part for now, the demo!
While we were ripping the tile out on Friday, I told Rob this ranked right up there with demoing house down to the studs when I went to New Orleans in 2006. I find something extremely satisfying about demo work and seeing the progress you can accomplish in short time.
Day three got us up nice and early In the morning. We were finished dropping everything off by 7:15 am. So we grabbed a quick breakfast, then got to work
After removing all the wood paneling in the master bedroom, we discovered two of the three walls were in really rough shape. So we decided to put up 3/8" drywall over the existing walls to give us a nice, clean finish. But first we had to clean up the existing walls a bit. So we scrubbed them down and let them dry. Then my Dad and I took a trip to Menards. I discovered a whole new area of the store I never knew existed! I never knew you had to go to a separate desk to order the drywall, then drive around the lumberyard to the correct door to pick it up. It was definitely an adventure and my Dad was so proud to take me to buy my first drywall!
While we washed wall, my Mom helped us wash out all our kitchen cupboards and closets to get ready for loading them with our things.
While Dad and I went to get drywall, Rob cleared the entire master bedroom. No easy feat! We had taken up all the tile and taken down all the wood paneling; all of which got stacked at the sides of the room, because the garage was full of carpet and other things for spring cleaning day. It was awesome that he was able to clear it all while we were gone.
We came back with the drywall and Rob and Dad got to work. Rob learned all the ways of drywalling, while I busied myself washing the walls in the 'brown room,' such named for the DARK wood paneling that covers all the walls. I also emailed with Pete's Hardwood Floors. Additionally, I had picked up some paint samples for the living room, so I painted three swatches throughout the room so we can see how each color looks like in different light.
We found out our floors are salvageable, but are going to take some significant work from us. And about six to seven days of work, start to finish. We feel it is worth it to have some beautiful hardwood floors and increase our home's value.
By the time we left for the night, around 7 pm, the master bedroom had all the drywall up and the brown room had two walls primed.
Non-renovation notes:
- We did laundry-- without quarters or to-the-minute timers! It was amazing!!!
- We met one of our neighbors. She is an 87-year-old woman who raised eight children, and knits 800 pairs of mittens per year to donate to local schools, food shelves, and other organizations.
- Louie visited! He brought Becky, Jeremy, and Annalynne along with him. He got to test out the new yard. He loved running around the yard and sniffing everything! And our fence kept him in the yard. Reinforcing the fence is on our to do list, but it works for now.
Colleen
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| This is what we discovered behind the wood paneling. |
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| Mom washing cupboards |
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| Rob washing walls |
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| Rob learning all the things! |
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| Annalynne watching Papa work. |
Saturday, May 2, 2015
In the morning...
Up at 6am on Saturday. There's already a line of 12 cars to drop off the remodel waste.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Day 2
Day two was just as busy as day one. I had to work a half day, so I got up and headed off early. Rob headed to the store to get a few supplies and then over to the house. Since it was our wedding anniversary, I surprised Rob by picking up lunch and cupcakes. Before I arrived Rob had done lots of tidying up and a few small jobs. After lunch the real work began.
The white tile in the hall and master bedroom had to go! We both got to work on the hall. It didn't take to long, so we decided to have a bit of fun with the bedroom. We timed how long it took to clear the tile. Our final time was 56:06! Less than one hour to clear the room! After that, I went to work clearing the tile from the closet while Rob began tackling the wood paneling on the walls. Although it was tough in the closet the paneling looked awful to deal with! Not long after we did that, my Mom and Dad arrived. Dad helped Rob with the paneling, and Mom helped me rip up the laminate tiles in one of the bedrooms, along with removing the tack strip from the carpet. We also loaded the truck up, since we found out it is clean up day (perfect timing) tomorrow. We will able to get rid of all the old carpet, padding, and shower doors and track for just $25! Total bargain, but it also means picking Mom up at 6 am so we don't have to wait for hours at the drop of site.
Because of our late night and early start, we will have to do double photos tomorrow! None tonight, sorry! Check back soon.
Colleen ☺
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Day 1
Closed on our House this morning and got (almost) straight to work!
First thing, we removed the baseboard and ripped out the old green carpet in the living room. It came out clean and we pulled up the padding, tac strips, nails and staples to reveal the original hardwood floor. Then we tackled the strip of tile from the front door to the kitchen. We were nervous about what was going to be under them but it went better than expected. The tiles came up easier than we thought without leaving too much of the grout behind. The hardwood by the front door even had some of the old finish on it. The room looks brighter and bigger already. When we get the floor sanded and finished it will look great.
We also got into the bathroom and with help from Denis got the hideous shower door/railing off. Overall a successful first day.
Tomorrow, bedroom floors and walls!
RP
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