More updates and organizing

I decided to order some new door knobs just before my uncle and aunt's arrival from England.  Well, Charlie had locked his bedroom door this past summer and we couldn't find the key for it!  And so his door knob was quite destroyed while we tried to open up his door.  I figured I might as well order enough for all our doors and also wanted some fancy one for our bathrooms.  Yes, I definitely splurged on the bathroom knobs and Bobby let me too :-P  I might have to take these with us when we move out!

And oh, did you know that with enough force, you can actually drive a screwdriver straight into and under your skin???!

OUCH is right!!!  I was trying to unscrew a screw on one of these door knobs and obviously not being too careful.  I can still see the accident in my head - blaaahh...!!!  Well, I did eventually get the closet door knob on:

Here is the culprit:

I was so glad that it did not get infected under the skin and so far so good on the recovery.  It still hurts a week later and you can almost see the "star" pattern on the wound.  Good thing I didn't have a golf planned these next few weeks!

Well, before the injury I was able to get some fairy lights up on our back patio.  So pretty and calming that we might just leave it up there all year long:

And was also able to sort out Charlie's bedroom.  Here's the before:

And after... tada!!!! Much better.  It's amazing how much you can hide in drawers, cubbies, and closets :-)

I hope my aunt and uncle can still get around the bedroom now that the daybed has been converted into a double bed.  And thankfully I was able to find some sheet and the comforters and extra blankets too:

So many things scattered around the house that I couldn't even find the blanket Bobby and I had bought a couple of months ago.  In the end, I did find it in our closet - hiding of course. Ha ha!

This dead plant is definitely not hiding.  No rescuing this one!

Thankfully it was easily replaced with a Christmas cactus.  I always wanted one of these!

Somehow my indoor plants have not been doing very well lately.  Overwatering? Underwatering? My little orchid plant decided it had enough as well.  Thankfully the fruit trees outside aren't doing too bad.  Lots of little oranges so I haven't had to buy any:

We have been thinking about getting rid of this fruit tree though so it will open up the yard a little more.  There is another orange tree on the other side of the trellis but I haven't been picking as many oranges out of that one.  Hmm...

Anyway, so far so good with my uncle and aunt's visit.  They have been really enjoying the lovely California sun, except it will be raining from Wed/tomorrow until Friday!  And they leave back to England on Saturday.  At least they have been enjoying some sun while it lasted :-)

Guest bathroom update

Just wanted to give the boys' bathroom a little update as we are expecting some guests!  My uncle and aunt arrived from England last Friday.  So exciting!  We have never had any guests in the house before so it has been a frantic few days trying to get the house organized, starting with Graham and Charlie's bathroom.

I decided to buy some of these stick on panels:

As you can see, I had already started with the first plank on the top before realizing about taking the photo.  That circle/marking is where the toilet paper handle used to be.  It's so low!  So this was the perfect time to change that too.

Not exactly sure how long I took, but probably about 30 minutes??!  The bottom "planks" were a bit trickier but I think it doesn't look too shabby at all!

I was thinking about painting the entire bathroom as well, but I didn't get to it.  Had to get some other things updated instead and also had to clear up the rest of the house!  Plus... Graham said I couldn't get rid of his "beluga whale" (to the left) and the "diver" (to the right):

Whaaaat??! Leave the imagination to the kids!!! LOL!!!

So, I also decided to paint the bathroom mirror instead:

I didn't like the green in the bathroom so I decided to paint the frame another tone of green.  Ha ha! Somehow it was the best color from all the sample colors I had leftover:

Doesn't look too bad, does it?  I was also able to use up some of that clear sealant that I had used on the floor project a few weeks ago, which by the way is still holding up.

Eventually I will paint this bathroom.  And the kitchen too!  Still didn't get to that yet either... or open up those 20 remaining boxes in the garage.  Ha ha!

Preparing for the rain

We had some rain last Wednesday and looks like there will be more coming tomorrow thru Friday!  It was a bit hectic trying to get the house ready for the rain as I also had to get ready for my uncle and aunt's arrival from England.  I'm so glad Graham and Charlie helped me with the trench in the front:

Assuming the boys did their work properly with the level, the water should drain towards the driveway.  I decided to set a rubber ducky in the trench as an experiment.  Will keep you posted on how that goes!

In the meantime, the roofer did come back and caulk this gap that's on the flat end of the roof:

More areas exposed but nothing a jar of tar from the home improvement store can't fix :-)

And oh, I also bought something for the garage.  I wish the manufacturer would have mentioned that there is no tape underneath this strip:

So at the same time at the home improvement store, I also picked up some liquid glue.  This thing is stuck on pretty good for now!  We did have some water come in before into the garage from previous rains and so far so good from the last rain.  The rain tomorrow looks like a big one, so fingers crossed on this and also the roof!

The standing water is not good but thankfully it all dried up pretty quickly:

My handy-dandy work on the sticky black tar:

More standing water... perhaps we would have moved out by the time more damage is done on this ;-p  And oh, some animal poop on the other side too.   Still didn't figure out what animal but we have seen cats, raccoons, and even a skunk around the house!

We come home from dinner after the rain and find out that my rain barrel in the backyard had fallen over!!!  Thankfully it did not pull the roof-post down as the barrel went down.  It did crush the spout in.  I tried to hammer it back out but that didn't work:

Looks like my rain barrel stand didn't hold up at all!  I did not realize that it was actually made out of thick paper and once it got too wet... well, you can see what happened:

I had Bobby pick up some cinder blocks which I should have done in the very beginning.  The ground is not very level so it's been a bit tricky trying to level the rain barrel.  Attempt #2... let's see what happens during this next rainstorm.  LOL!!!

First ballet

A mom from our previous school had invited us to a ballet!  It's a Russian troop that had a one-night event in the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills.  Thankfully Bob was able to pick my uncle and aunt up from the airport.  They were flying in from England to spend their holiday with us while the boys were out of school for Thanksgiving this week.

Since Charlie and I are scheduled to have a date-night in March to watch Lang Lang (a world renowned pianist), I decided to ask Graham if he would be my date for the ballet.  And he said YES! And I finally got to wear the dress that I had bought months ago!

And I was walking by a Salvation Army and managed to get some fancy shoes for Graham for half off!  Like it was meant to be. Ha!  Graham looks so grown up:

We find this statue of a person on a horse outside the building where we are parked.  There was no plaque whatsoever.  And oh, there were probably a dozen Bentleys and some Ferraris and Porches in the garage too. Fancy!

At the outside/entrance of the theater, the ceiling is already making an impression on us:

In the lobby... Wow!

Just reading up on this theater online and supposedly, it used to be called Fox Wilshire Theater when opened in 1930 and was one of 20th Century Fox's premiere theaters.  It was converted into a stage venue in a 1981 renovation.  Graham looks like he fits right in :-)

The ballet started at 7:30pm so a little snack after an early dinner at home:

Here is some of the program for what's going on tonight with the Astana Ballet:

Some art deco on the inside of the theater/along the walls near the stage area:

Graham keeping occupied while the ballet is running late:

No photography during the show which is too bad!  It was amazing!!!  My first ballet did not disappoint - lots of muscles and elegance! :-D
Graham did fall asleep right before intermission - 8:45pm, which is sort of around bedtime.  Right on cue I guess:

I couldn't decide whether to wake him and just go home or let him sleep and watching the show.  Well, I obviously stayed through and thoroughly enjoyed it :-)

I asked Graham on the way home whether he enjoyed it and he said he did!  So glad it all worked out as Bobby and Charlie were able to pick my uncle and aunt from the airport too.  Looks like they had a good time too:

Ice-cream at the mall prior to the airport run and just messing around!

Still waiting on Bobby to take me to the Nutcracker or even perhaps the Swan Lake.  Hint! Hint!!!

Frontyard work

I finally got the boys to help out today.  I equipped them with shovels - so I am glad no one got hurt!

Both Graham and Charlie worked hard today! They were both also taking turns with the level and making sure our drain was moving downhill:

Eventually, the water will make it's way down the driveway.  Eventually, being the key word here.  I haven't figured that part out yet!

The boys did great especially looking back at where we started:

The drain still needs to be bigger.  Technically it's suppose to be a "dry rock bed".  But the soil is coming in handy is covering up the exposed gas line.  The soil has receded so much with all the watering/sprinkler I guess:

And I've come a long way with those retaining wall bricks!

Probably about 4 trips to the home improvement store as these bricks are so heavy!

And have also been buying some ground cover.  I hope these survive!

Not sure if I am arranging them to code,... but they look okay??!

Ta da!

I did "save" a couple of plants today, so hopefully those will survive too.  They were half off their regular price but they really didn't look so bad.  I am hoping all these plants will mature and make the front yard look pretty!  It's suppose to rain on Wednesday so we'll see what happens with the drain and the plants. Crossing fingers and toes that the new soil will not get washed away!

Oh, PS - Graham and Charlie were both happy about their trip to the yogurt store:

And also TV time :-)

I am working on getting some rocks for free somewhere so hopefully that will work out.  Otherwise this is going to be a big investment in just buying river rocks for this new drain!