October 15
Today I planted another 100 bulbs in the front and backyard: tulips, daffodils and grape Hyacinth. I also painted the crown molding  

in the kids playroom with Perma-White, a mold and mildew resistant paint. Then I spackled the little holes on the doors and door frames coming from the hallway through the playroom and in Seamus' room. Finally,  I caulked the space where Sigo had put in molding in the kitchen ceiling.

October 14

Today we are camping out at the house for the first time. We still have no running water or heat but we're up for an adventure tonight! After we came back from visiting my mom in New Jersey, Sigo repaired the cracks on the walls of the kids’ playroom and Emelia and I planted bulbs - we planted 60 daffodil bulbs and about 20 crocus bulbs.

Sigo and I set up Emelia's room for our camping adventure. Once the kids were settled we got into some really fun stuff. No, not roasting marshmallows, putting on hardware!
For the kitchen hardware Sigo put up the striker plates, door plates, bolt lock, and door handles.  He used paint thinner to clean everything up.

October 7
Today was a big lesson day for me at The House on Ridge! Larry showed me (in great detail) how to replace lighting fixtures. I took careful notes of each step.

October 6
This weekend our dear friend Larry came up to the House on Ridge to help out.  Larry and Sigo took on the death-defying task of getting the refrigerator beast out of the second floor kitchen.  Between the bulk of the fridge, the narrow stairway and the penetrating stench of whatever had been left there for months (years, decades perhaps), they nearly lost their lives!   It was an impressive accomplishment to get it out to the back yard!

Larry also took the hardware on the older doors on the second floor and cut molding for the space underneath the kitchen window where Sigo had built the sill.

 
Sigo sanded and primed the kitchen walls which he had repaired and put a final coat onto the backs of the cabinet doors. He also put one coat of the color on the kitchen counter tops and back splash. I skim-coated Emelia’s ceiling and sanded and primed the four windows in Seamus’ room. 
The kids pitched in by spackling holes in Seamus’ room. They patched the window trim and  door molding.

Then Sigo showed me how to caulk! I caulked the molding and windows in Emelia’s room.

September 30
Today was an incredibly productive day! In the kitchen, Sigo taped and compounded the ceiling, spray-painted the stove vent, painted the kitchen countertop laminate with the first coat of primer, painted some of the walls, skim-coated other parts of the walls (again), sprayed the radiator (again) and put a final coat on the backsides of all the kitchen cabinets.

Early in the day, Sigo showed me how to fill the holes and the cracks in Emelia’s ceiling: First I taped over the cracks with the mesh tape. Then, using a taping knife, I spread the joint compound over the tape, filling in the mesh. Then I smoothed over the compound to blend the edges. 
 

After Sigo scraped the windows in Emelia’s bedroom, I sanded the molding and then vacuumed and wiped them down. In a mini-lesson, he showed me how to paint one window and I painted the other two with one coat of primer.