Watt's Up

Katie and I are building a doll house for her friend’s daughter, Lillee. Yesterday we painted most parts with Bin sealer. Then we glued a few things together yesterday and today. After Katie finished work today we selected and bought paint – a pale yellow for the siding, red for the door and dark gray for the trim.

Update: Katie and I continue to work on the doll house. It’s slowly coming together. But we still have a lot of work to do including windows & door, railings, roof shingles, trim and painting.

Update 2: Bay window roof slope created, under eaves painted white, fake eaves mounted and shingled, and corner trim on.
Update 3: Shingles on roof, doors and windows with shutters, and porch railings in process by Kendra and Harley (not shown).
Update 4: Porch finished, eave trim done, front steps attached, magnetic access door latch, almost done, only minor touch ups left.
Interior walls, and stairs installed. There is no plan to finish the inside. We’ll let her imagination do that.

It was a small family Thanksgiving. Just Kathy, two of our three children, and me. No one else. The food was spectacular especially the cranberry mold. Oh and the turkey was good too.

We put our daily silverware in a wooden holder. We’ve had it for years and years. Since it has been that long it started to show its age. The wood was quite worn and pitted. So I’m on a role with stain and polyurethane, and thought I could help it out. I stained it, and put two coats of polyurethane on it. I think it turned out well, but it’s still pitted, but now it’s dark and shiny pitted – kinda gives it the antique feel.

I went in for a biopsy yesterday, and when they reviewed the ultrasound the lump had shrunk significantly. So no biopsy. I was told to return in one month for a recheck. I’m breathing easier right now.

Update: After one month the lump has totally disappeared. So I was sent home with a clean bill of health.

This past weekend Kathy and I traveled to Cape Cod to attend the wedding of Jennie C. and Alex K. Jennie C. is the daughter of our old Poughkeepsie next door neighbors, Susan and Ken, who we’ve continued to write, call, and visit ever since moving to Austin. We arrived on Thursday in Boston and drove down to Plymouth. The weather was great – clear, and crisp. While in Plymouth we saw the Mayflower II

and Plymouth Rock.We stayed over night in Plymouth before driving down to Hyannis. In Hyannis we stayed in a condo with a great view of the water.We were joined with our old Poughkeepsie neighbors, Evelyn and Rich P., and Betty and Ken H. On the day of the wedding we had brunch together.
Brian W., Rich P., Kathy W., Ken H., Betty H., and Evelyn P.Later that day we traveled to Ocean’s Edge in Webster on the Cape for the wedding.The bride was beautiful, and danced with her proud father.Her two sisters were bridesmaids
Susan C, Sarah C. (older sister), Jennie C., and Lisa C. (oldest sister)The day after the wedding we headed back to Boston to stay overnight before our flight home. Overall both Kathy and I had a great time.

Before yesterday I took the kitchen table and chairs out to the garage. As I have said previously I refinished the table top, which looks pretty good. Now it’s time for the chairs and table supports to be painted white. I thought I had some paint, but when I opened up what I had it was either too little or dried out. So off I went to Home Depot to get some bright white enamel. Afterwards I spent about four hours painting six chairs, four legs and all the table parts including the drawer. Now they are drying and I’ll assemble it later tonight.

I’ve missed having this table. Typically each morning I sit at this table, eat my breakfast and read the paper. In the meantime I’ve had to use the dining room table, but it’s not the same, nor is it as convenient.

Update: Finished table

Had a mammogram and ultrasound today. I was lucky and someone canceled their appointment so I got it and went in. It was at the Women’s Imaging Center. The results were as follows… The mammogram was inconclusive. The ultrasound showed something and the doctor suggested I get a biopsy. So that’ll be next. IMHO, I think the lump is getting smaller, but we’ll let the doctors decide.

Last week as I started on my long run I felt soreness in my right upper chest. Since I’d been doing all this sanding, and staining on the door and table I thought it was just muscle soreness. As the run continued I forgot about it. Later that day I continued on my refinishing chores, but didn’t feel the soreness then. I think it was on Sunday or Monday that I noticed a lump in my upper right breast. It wasn’t especially tender, but it was harder than my normal breast tissue and it was about two inches across. I showed it to Kathy on Monday night who told me to get an appointment with the doctor to check it out.

I went in on Wednesday afternoon to see the nurse practitioner who checked me out. She said that it didn’t appear to be an infection (no redness) or the lymph nodes weren’t sore, and suggested I get an ultrasound. So now I’ve got an appointment for a mammogram and ultrasound on November 6th. Naturally I have no idea how long that I’ve had this lump, but now I constantly feel it especially as I jiggle along as I’m running. Naturally I’m worried since I have a propensity for getting tumors of various types – foot, hand, brain, what have you.

Well I’m on a roll so why not do more. Maybe it’ll help quell some of the weekend boredom that I’ve been feeling recently. So while the front door was drying I disassembled our kitchen table and carried the butcher block top to the garage to work on it.

We’ve had this table since Poughkeepsie. We bought it unfinished and I stained the top and painted the bottom white. It’s seen a lot of action from numerous family meals to baking and cooking to decorating Christmas cookies to assembling puzzles to so many other things. After all that it’s been looking a bit weary. The top especially has been showing wear with both the stain and the polyurethane wearing off in spots. So while I waited for the front door to dry I sanded the top down with my orbital sander to bare wood. Note: next time I should separate my drying work from my sanding work – oh well nothing was damaged beyond repair. Afterwards Katie and I stained the top. This time I choose to use the red oak stain which I had just used for the front door instead of the original lighter fruitwood. Since the table was so old it just drank in the stain. Next I applied the first coat of polyurethane, and it’s now drying for six hours before I sand it again and put on the next coat. The “prep” sanding really roughed up the surface so the “between-coats” sanding is really needed.More to follow…