The Week from Hell...followed by the Week It All Came Together

We've been crazy busy so the blog hasn't been updated in awhile. First the week from hell which I'll summarize in bullet points:

-Being from the midwest, we did not grow up in an area with a variety of fruit trees. Seth and I have been fantasizing about all the fruit trees we were going to grow once we moved to California. Therefore, when we moved into our house, we decided to replace the 4 trees that were in our backyard (birch, flowering plum, yellow flowering something, and pink flowering something) with fruit trees. Not wanting to kill the perfectly healthy trees we put them on Craig's List for free. If people wanted to dig them up they could come and get them. Well, several people said they would but no one did. Meanwhile, we bought 6, yes 6, fruit trees. We needed to get the old ones out so we could get the new ones in. We had to push back the delivery date a week since no one had come to get the old ones.

-Seth was gone all week so I picked out the finish for our concrete floors on my own. Sunday, the base coat was applied to the concrete filling the house with a smell that can only be described as dead fish times a thousand. Monday, the stain was applied to the concrete floors and looked awesome! However, at 1:15a.m. every smoke detector in the house went off...every 2 minutes. We also have a fire suppressant system in the house which I was terrified would go off and ruin the floors. Luckily I figured out how to shut the entire system down and a short 1.5 hours later I was back asleep.

-Wednesday I came home to find the floors completed with their finishing coat. A quick touch test led me to believe the floors were dry (even though the finish makes it look wet). However, as soon as I walked on the floor I could see the tread marks from my shoes making a perfect impression on the finish. I took off my shoes and tried to repair the damage thus making a perfect imprint of my foot in the new finish (along with perfect hand prints). I called our flooring guy who said he would stop by later. After an hour I decided I had to get out to eat (our fridge and oven were in the garage all week). I made it outside, found a stray dog, dropped it off at a shelter, cried the whole way home (feeling guilty), and missed dinner. However, our flooring guy, Donnie, called out of the blue and offered to stop at McDonald's on his way over - super awesome. Donnie had warned me that the finishing product I picked out would be shiny in some spots and matte in others, depending on the floor level. However, it looked like an ice skating rink in some spots and sounded like you were walking around with rain-soaked shoes (squeaky).

-Thursday I started to accept the floor and REALLY appreciate how easy the it is to clean up cat vomit on it.

-Friday, Seth came home and expressed his shock at the flooring. I'll leave it at that.

Then it all turns around...

-Saturday, a guy shows up and digs up the flowering plum tree! Our flooring guy shows up, gives us back our oven and fridge, and offers a solution for our flooring finish. Also, ADT shows up and installs our security system.

-Sunday, a guy shows up and digs up the yellow flowering something tree...AND inquires about our koi pond (which we've wanted to ditch since we moved in as it was made of ugly black plastic and required A LOT of maintenance). He has an uncle who owns a koi pond and knows all about it. He comes back with a bucket, takes the fish (2 of the 7 had vanished for some reason - cat food?) and we easily remove the pond. Also, we go to the dog shelter and find the dog I found has been claimed by it's owner!!! (Also, the Bears beat the Rams 23-6)

-Monday, Lowe's shows up and installs our laminate on the second floor of our house. Also, a guy shows up and digs up our 2 remaining trees!

-Tuesday, Lowe's completely finishes the laminate on the stairs. We pick up a shovel and dirt at Lowe's and decide at 8pm (pitch darkness) is a good time to start a landscaping project involving filling in the koi pond hole and leveling off where the trees were removed.

-Wednesday, our fruit trees get delivered and planted!!!

Great week so far and our household belongings, which have been in storage since Nov. '11, are arriving on Friday!!!

Here are some pics of the week:

The Paint Layer - notice how washed out the color looks before the finishing is applied.

Notice the colors come out. Shiny! Ideal for cleaning up cat puke, urine and feces!

Nope, it's not wet - that's the finish!

Laminate Flooring on 2nd Floor "Hand Scraped Hickory" from Lowe's

Removing all the "ornamental" rocks from around the former koi pond.

Hello, Meyers Lemon Tree!

Welcome, Nectarine Tree!

Avocado Tree

Eureka Lemon Tree - notice the lemons!

Anna Apple Tree!

Pomegranate Tree - Loaded with Fruit!

Happy New Fruit Trees!

To Do List:
1) Re-finish concrete floors with Matte Finish
2) Tile spare bathroom
3) Install 1/4 round throughout entire house
4) Demo & Redo Master Bath
5) Demo & Redo Kitchen
6) Paint, paint, paint.
7) Landscape backyard.
8) Drink wine. Lots and lots of wine.