Plumbing problem becomes a Dream come true

Our "older" home (with a view :) has some really old plumbing and we know it. The drain for the washer had a problem and was pumping water onto the floor. Had to call the plumber out. See how the pipes all protrude from the wall.
We have always dreamed and planned for 'some day' to add a sink and tankless water heater that would give room for a garage sink...We asked the plumber to give us a quote for our 'dream laundry room'. We decided to just do it! Not cheap to move all the plumbing behind the walls, remove lots of unused pipes sticking out of the walls etc. But, we have wanted to do this since we moved here six years ago.

This is a before photo. Old water heater, pipes outside the wall beside the washer and above the cabinets.

This photo is after the plumbers did their job. Moved all the pipe behind the walls and hooked up the new tankless water heater and sink removed the obsolete pipes above the cabinets... and cut away all the drywall behind the laundry area.

Well, it's Memorial Day weekend and we have a homeowner project. Mike and I are finishing up the laundry room. Mike rearranged a couple of electoral outlets and today we installed dry wall (try cutting around all those pipes and outlets! It looks great to us!

On one of our hardware store trips I picked up a $20 reject gallon of paint for $4. I didn't care what exact color (soft/subtle) but just want to paint the garage laundry area. Well, macho Mike thinks the color is 'pink'. I say it is 'mauve'. Anyway, it has been a lot of hard work but fun to do together. I will post the finished 'mauve' laundry room after the painting is done.

Sunflowers

Last fall, Erika, a garden club member and a Casa volunteer, cleared weeds from an area and planted a packet of wildflowers. Well, the little patch is a beautiful spot right now and quite the photo op spot!

Mother's Day

I really wanted a day to not have to be somewhere else!
I stayed in my sweats, thumbed through the last week of papers and mail. And, enjoyed phone calls from our 3 kids. Mike loved being home and cooking breakfast and dinner...ahhhhh :)

Culver City Park project

Staci co-ordinated a church/community service project and asked me to do the planting design and help with the installation of the project. There were 4 empty planters surronding a very popular neighborhood park. She submitted a grant to the City and the project was approved within a few weeks. Saturday was the work day. There were many hands to help and the hard work from the volunteers was rewarded with the wonderful results.

Digging a hole a foot deep was a challenge among roots and compacted soil.

I have 57 photos :) but here are some with me ...in the light green shirt...showing others what to do...

Here is a photo of a finished garden. Everyone was proud of the final look after the hard work of preparing and planting the bed.

Papyrus and grandchildren

After a busy day at the beach, (no camera) Siena was having fun filling the beach buckets with water from Bob (the fountain) and 'watering' my flowers.

With a Papyrus stem in hand, dipping it in the fountain, many trips up and down the ramp, yelling fun sounds all the time...
NOTHING is more important than seeing life through the eyes of a child! ---Grandma

May 5 with 3 grandchildren

The ultimate dream of a grandma is to have all grandchildren in one place at one time!!! And to get a photo of it.
Well, we had the opportunity on Tuesday, May 5, to do that. Not an easy feat. Staci dropped Randy off at LAX in the morning, drove (over an hour) to San Clemente...took a breakfast break. Then Staci, Siena and I headed to Nicole's- another hour 15 minute drive. Siena was looking forward to a day with Aubrey and Garrett.

We played in every room and outside with the little ones. They had so much fun!

Home Grown Artichoke

Mike was home for the weekend (May 3) and our first artichoke was ready to be picked from the garden! Yummy.