Monthly Archives: April 2015
Renovation – Phase IV
Welcome back my friends to Phase IV – furniture delivery. Now, today I can’t show you any pictures of the house at this point. I know that stinks but I can talk to you about the furniture 🙂
The furniture crew called me and advised they would be out at the house between 2:30-5:30PM. This was fine with me because I had things to get completed before they came out.
Big Daddy
My kitchen had been gutted – bye bye kitchen table. We really didn’t need one. The one we had was huge and seemed to be a ‘catch all’ for everything and anything that came through the room. We decided to do without a table. It’s just the two of us anyway and we normally camp out in front of the television in the living room talking and watching the news in the evening. So, my dream kitchen needed one thing that I had ordered off line. The down side was that one thing had to be put together. I’m not good a jigsaw puzzles. If the box had 50 pieces in it, there would probably be 40 pieces leftover if I put it together on my own. So, I bartered with my neighbor, Big Daddy, next door. I would give him two items of furniture that his wife wanted if he helped me put together my item I ordered. His wife volunteered him so quickly it wasn’t even funny – LOL. And I have to admit that after two hours, we had done it together! It looked beautiful and better yet it fit so perfectly in the kitchen – like it was made there. You will have to come back tomorrow to find out what it was 🙂 winks
Also, my mom had been keeping two book shelves for me at her house that she had said she would give to me over the years. Me and Jim went and got them… of course in the rain. This weather was killing us! They fortunately fit in the back of our SUV when the door was kept open. We were able to get them into the living room and put them where they needed to go before the furniture arrived.
Also in the meantime of waiting for the furniture, we cleaned. Isn’t that how it is? You clean before to de-clutter. You clean during due to dust. Then you have to clean after. By this time I’ll be honest with you, I was.so.over.cleaning!
Then the furniture arrived. Three guys brought the pieces inside of the Hotel Thompson. One of the guys let it be known that *I* had expensive taste. That’s ALL my husband had to hear – HA! Once everything was in place, me and the hub stood back and looked at everything. It was in that moment we both let out a breath of air and knew we had made the right decision in doing this remodel.
That’s also when I nudged him and told him we weren’t finished. We then had to decorate. Rolls eyes – one of my least favorite things trust me. Tomorrow, come back for the Renovation Reveal Party where you will see everything in its glorious. I hope you have enjoyed our trip into letting go and beginning a new life.
Bacon’s Show and Tell
Welcome my friends to today’s Bacon’s Show and Tell. This month we are highlighting something that is the oldest in your house. As you know, we have been doing a LOT of renovating here at the Hotel Thompson. Mom has an antique trunk that came from her mother’s mother – old huh? Well, mom explored inside of the trunk and found something older than daddy! Can you believe that?
Here is a newspaper from the Bangor Daily News dated Wednesday, January 2, 1963. Can you believe that? If you look close in the upper right hand corner you will even see the cost of the newspaper during this time – EIGHT CENTS! You might be asking yourself WHY would you have such a paper from such long ago? My Nana’s family is actually from Bangor, Maine. Small world huh?
And I told you this newspaper was older than my dad. It is by 4 days – snorts. My dad was born on Sunday, January 6, 1963. What a small world huh?
You’re Invited to a PARTY!
Please my friends – mark your calendars to attend our drop in House Warming Party for the Hotel Thompson on Friday, May 1st right here on my blog.
The celebration will begin at 9:00AM and last throughout the day. Food and drinks will be served during the great renovation reveal. Fozzie will be co-hosting this extravaganza with us – be sure to make plans to drop in for some fun 🙂
Please share with your friends – all are welcomed. We hope to see you here!
Renovation – Phase III
Welcome back my friends to Phase III – floor installation.
Phase III was our favorite part here at the Hotel Thompson. Phase III meant that we had done our part – painting was done and the house was empty. This day, we could sit back and enjoy a good rest. We piled all of the kids up and shipped them to Nana’s up the street to spend the night. We wanted to have everything ready to go for the day and would pick the kids up tomorrow after the delivery of the furniture.
We had pulled carpet, linoleum and had things ready to go when the floor installation crew showed up at 9:15AM. Now, this almost gave me a heart attack when they showed up. Why do you ask? Because there was only TWO guys to do the kitchen, hallway, living room and bathroom floors. You have to be kidding me, right? TWO guys were going to complete all of this in ONE day. In fact, that was my first statement to them. After I checked the products that were ordered for the flooring, they assured me they had this under control.
I advised them the me and the hub would be out of their way out front if they needed anything. This way, if they had questions we would be out of their way. Let me add, it has been in the 60’s-70’s for the past several days. This day though – LOL – it decides to have a cold front come through. It was in the low 50’s with a wind. We felt every bit of it. Our nice neighbor even brought us blankets to stay warm. It was interesting to camp out, play games and keep ourselves busy. All the time, we could hear them inside knocking away, coming out to their truck to get things and then going back inside to work.
And of course, you know me. I had this small type dresser in our garage that I wanted to move into the kitchen. Since the contractors didn’t have to move any furniture out of their way, I asked if they would move the dresser into the kitchen for me. Which they did! Score for not having to lift anything heavy. By this time of the renovation, just thinking about lifting hurt – LOL.
And you are probably asking yourself TWO guys – how long did it take to do the flooring. I will tell you this – I was in awe and shock. It took them only FIVE hours to complete the job. And let me add that the job was FANTASTIC! Come back tomorrow for Phase IV.
Mommy’s Food Blog Reminder
Friends – If you get a chance, you *must* check out mom’s food blog here. You will NOT be disappointed. Those pictures of hers just make me want to lick the computer screen. YUM-YUM! Don’t forget to let her know what you think. ❤
Dear Bacon
Dear Bacon, Our parents are so funny. We are brothers born on the same day in the same litter. Our personalities are like twins though – we both have separate ones. Our parents thought it was funny to put is in these contraptions. But don’t worry. I’ll be showing them what I think about this set up shortly. Barks! Signed Sitting Pretty in the Booth of Shame
Dear Sitting Pretty in the Booth of Shame – I have to admit something my friend. Think of the originality that your humans came up with on this set up. It’s outrageously funny. Okay may not so funny from the side you are sitting BUT from the other side of this computer where I’m sitting – it’s hilarious! I say play it for all it’s worth and have some fun. You can always leave something in your humans shoe for payback later 🙂
Dear Bacon – I had surgery and as you can see I had to wear the cone of shame. Shakes dog head and whines. The cone of shame! But look I’m not sad – I’m happy! My master – he’s the best. He made a game out of it and threw in all of my closest friends. See, I even thought about you with Super Piggy in the front. He reminds me of you. What surgery? I know no pain here. Signed Happy Doggy
Dear Happy Doggy – Oh pal! Where were you when the little guy here had surgery. This would have been fantastic for him to wear his cone of shame and have some fun. Your master is tops in my book my friend. I say when he has surgery, you do the same for him!
.
Dear Bacon – What? I was tired from working the hood the night before. See I’m on the neighborhood watch. I gotta make sure I protect all of the humans from the bad peeps that come out at night. The local diner takes care of me. I need coffee STAT – and hey why don’t you make it a double and serve it with some eggs and a steak? Signed Neighborhood Watch
Dear Neighborhood Watch – You are the DOG my friend. I like how you take care of your hood and they repay you at the neighborhood diner. I gotta get a gig like that. Where do I sign up? PIGGY POWER!
.
Dear Bacon – Using Facetime on these i Phones are the bomb! See my girlfriend and me were talking. We could see each other and it was a blast. Neither one of us wanted to hang up. We both fell asleep like this. Isn’t she adorable? Signed Beef Cake
Dear Beef Cake – hubba hubba. She is a dish my friend. I know exactly what you mean about Facetime and talking to friends not wanted to hang up. My pet rock here Bashful has been doing a LOT of that lately with some of his friends. Modern technology has come so far, hasn’t it? Just remember to block the picture when you go wizzy. No one wants to see that – it doesn’t matter how much in love you are.
Dear Bacon – Please explain something to me. This yellow ball – why do the humans throw it and then expect US to retrieve it back to them? I mean heck if they want to play fetch, shouldn’t “I” be the one throwing it for them to fetch? That would help in their exercising… right? Signed Confused
Dear Confused – You know what friend. You have a wonderful point on fetch. I understand this completely. Humans do say they are playing ‘fetch’. I think we should try it your way. Throw the ball for the humans and let them fetch it. We shall see how long that lasts. If it’s my dad, maybe 2 minutes tops – snorts and rolls with piggy laughter!
REMEMBER friends – Dear Bacon can’t happen without YOU. Please continue to send me your letters and pictures via email. Snorts and thanks!
Renovation – Phase II
Welcome back my friends to Phase II of the great renovation at the Hotel Thompson. Phase II was an ordeal – almost worse than Phase I in my book. In Phase II we had an electrician out. The one thing that the hub unit has always complained about in the living room is that there is *not* enough light. The hub unit has limited vision and when things are dark, it wipes out what vision he does have which is not much but everything counts, right?
So one of the first things I did was to have an electrician go up into the attic and install a ceiling fan. First, it would be great to have some air circulation and second it would have LIGHT. I have to admit, that this is one of my favorite things about the renovation. It was a great addition and you will see the final results on Friday.
Also during this time, I kept going back to the floor we ordered. Something just didn’t sit right with me. I talked it over with the hub and he told me then that if I had doubts, I needed to call the contractor then and there to discuss it before they were installed. We had the contractor come back out on 4/12/2015 to go over more flooring ideas. I’m glad I did because I saw a flooring color that I absolutely fell in love with so we changed it. While the contractor was out, we also asked him to look at our bathroom floor – it really needed to be changed as well. After reviewing the prices with him on the bathroom floor, it was a no brainer to go ahead and have it completed as well. After speaking with the contractor, I knew the right decision had been made and we were set for the flooring.
But then at 6:55PM on Sunday night 4/12/2015, we received a phone call from American Signature Furniture which set me in a turmoil. The lady that called advised that the furniture we ordered was back ordered until JUNE 2, 2015. What?! And better yet, the store called us at five minutes until closing to advise us of this information. And better yet to that, we had upgraded our internet services to fiber optics and did not know that the company had installed a voice mail on our telephone. The date we bought our furniture and expressing that it had to be in by April 16, 2015, they called us a couple of days after that on 4/2/2015 and said that the furniture was back ordered and would be delivered on April 28th. Now talk about nerves and stress. American Signature Furniture was given two telephone numbers to contact – our house number and my cell number. Not one time did they try to call the cell and we just happened to be at home the evening of 4/12/2015 to speak with the lady about being back ordered until June 2.
Of course, I didn’t sleep well this night. I was worried about our furniture! I called the headquarters of American Signature Furniture the next morning 4/13/2015 and advised our situation. They told me specifically that a manager from the store would call me between 10-10:30AM that day. At noon, I had not received any calls. I called the headquarters again and was advised they were still in the works in getting in touch with someone at the store. Finally around 1PM, the same lady that called me the night before called (who was NOT the manager). She advised that the only thing she could do was refund our delivery fee. Shakes head. How stressful huh? I advised her that I wanted to speak to the STORE manager. She told me that he didn’t come in until after 2PM and she would give him the message.
By 3:30PM, no one had called me. The more I thought about the situation, the more I got ticked. Just a heads up, don’t tick off a woman who has purged, cleaned and stuck to a schedule to get things done in three weeks. I left work early, picked up the hub unit and we went to Ashley’s Furniture where I met the nicest manager ever – Angela. I was up front with her on everything – we needed furniture by Friday 4/17/2015, what I wanted and what had happened. Within 20 minutes, I found better furniture that I absolutely LOVED, better attitudes, bigger fireplace and friendlier staff. I highly recommend this store. AND it gave me great pleasure to go to American Signature Furniture and advise them that I wanted a refund of nearly $3,000.00 due to their service… which by the way a manager has yet to ever call me. I call that piss poor customer service.
Phase II included all of the tribulations of furniture and then on 4/15/2015 the painting began. Lord help me if I *ever* see another paint brush my entire life – LOL. I asked the ‘kids’ to invite their fellow anipals over to the Hotel Thompson for a paint party that included food but unfortunately not one single person showed up. Who would have thought that, right? So much for the anipals and kids helping out. Although, Houdini did try and was almost a Smurf when he attacked the blue paint. That’s right. Houdini attacked a blue paint roller. I immediately picked him up and washed him off. And I have to admit that there might be some snout marks on one of the lower walls in the living room. And yes. I left them there 🙂
So you are asking what colors I chose? Well this is one wall and one color. With the hub unit’s vision impairment, he couldn’t help with the painting so it was in my hands – literally. I painted for NINE hours straight. Up/down/on the floor/standing up. After NINE hours, I called a break. We went to dinner, rested for a bit and then I came back and did TWO more hours of painting.
Let me add that usually painting doesn’t bother me. It can be fun for a while. After 11 hours though, it is a nightmare. I have never gotten up/down so much from the ladder and chair working in trim. Heaven forbid – I didn’t know you could hurt in some areas that I hurt. Let alone when we finally crashed that night, I dreamed about painting and was moving my hands in my sleep with the brush.
This is the same wall showing how the paint dried. Pretty huh? This is the darkest color I used. It is on the entry way wall and one wall that goes from the living room into the kitchen.
By the time I finished the last wall, I had fallen off the ladder once. No biggie just a big scratch on my leg. My legs hurt from getting up and down. My arms hurt from going up and down with the brush. I had multiple colors of paint all over me. And who knew you could have bruises on top of bruises. Was it worth it? At the end of Phase II, I was definitely questioning myself if I had bitten off more than I could chew.
Remember to come back tomorrow for Phase III.
Bacon’s Show and Tell – REMINDER
Today is going to be a twist to our normal Bacon’s Show and Tell. This month we are going to highlight something that is the oldest in your house. It could be a person – snorts watch out daddy of mine. It could be a special dish that you use only on special occasions. It could be a picture frame of a loved one. It could be a dress. Anything. What is the oldest thing you have in your house? Take a picture and share it with a story on April 30th, 2015. Can’t wait to see what you find my friends. Have fun!
Renovation – Phase I
Hello all! This is Bacon’s mom here. I wanted to break down the entire renovation and share our experience of ups and downs throughout the process. Today is Phase I which includes the start of everything. Our house was cluttered. Pure and simple it was. We have been here 16 LONG years and throughout those years, we have had many surgeries, illnesses and taking care of family members that some things taken second – like the house unfortunately 😦
I was having a couple of weeks of feeling good physically. One never knows how long these days last when you have rheumatoid arthritis. So when I told the hub unit I was ready to do it, he couldn’t believe me. We made an appointment with the floor guy first. We *had* to get rid of this awful carpet that had seen way better days.
The appointment was made 3/28/2015 with the flooring peeps. They came out and we went over all of the measurements and looked at the different types of flooring that was available. My husband gave me full reign over the remodeling so I picked a tan flooring. We signed the paperwork and picked the date of 4/16/2015 for installation. This gave us a little under three weeks to de-clutter, purge and get the house in shape for the floor. No small feat with what we had to work with as you can see from the pictures.
This same date, we went furniture shopping. A joyful occasion to most… except me. I despise shopping for anything. The most important factor was that whatever we picked the hub had to LOVE his sofa. I personally wanted something in the way of an oversized chair with an ottoman, etc – something that would be absolutely comfortable when I came home from work at the end of the day. We went to a company called American Signature Furniture and picked out a sofa, an oversized chair, an ottoman and an electric fireplace mantle. Sounds like heaven huh? We expressed several times that the furniture had to be delivered on 4/17/2015, the day after the floor installation.
Now as you can see from these pictures of the living room, there was a LOT to clean. I basically wanted to clear out everything and start fresh. But in order to get to the bare basics, I had to de-clutter and separate items into (1) Keep; (2) Donate; and (3) Junk. Just looking at the pictures you can tell that it was an overwhelming feat to start. If anyone is in the same position as we were, two words – BABY STEPS. I had a calendar and every night when I came home from work and on the weekends, we hit a different spot. Slowly, things started going away. AND, you know what we learned from all of this? Letting go can be medicinal and therapeutic. We made three trips alone to the Goodwill donation center down the street in the first couple of days. I know that our garbage collection company probably thought what are they up to because we had loads of stuff we threw away. Phase I took us the longest to get through – 9 days.
And then came the date that we asked Salvation Army to come to the 
house on 4/9/2015. They actually had to make two trips because we gave it all away: sofa, love seat, entertainment center, china cabinet, hutch, kitchen table, six chairs, rugs.
After they left, we cleaned more and started making a pile of trash. On 4/11/2015, we had 1-800 Got Junk to come out to the house. This junk company will come to your house and pick up your trash. According to how much you have to fill their truck, is how much they charge you. We had scheduled them to come out on this date between 3:30-5:30pm. To our advantage, they were running late so (1) we got to pick up and clean more and (2) the later they were we got a discount – which is always a great thing in my book.
The company *finally* got at the Hotel Thompson around 8:30PM – which they had been calling throughout the day to keep us aware of their schedule. I never got upset with them and it was a good thing. Other people had in their schedule. They came to our house and gave us a $125.00 discount for waiting. So it cost only $100.00 for them to come in, lift and take out our final junk. A bargain in my book because by this time we were so over lifting.
Now our neighbors had been watching all of the activity happening at our house in the pass 9 days. Word got back to us that we were moving which we laughed off. Nope – we were just doing some MAJOR spring cleaning. All of this work was Phase I – come back tomorrow for Phase II my friends 🙂
Piglove 