Painting, Caulking, Building…
Still painting!!! But now Jeff is around to help me (do most of the work)!!!!
Jeff’s job has had a lighter load of labor, so they most fortuitously gave him a couple days off – perfect timing!!!
His uniform: vintage 80’s Sunshine Village coveralls. So dope! I love the old logo!!! Sunshine Village is a major ski resort in Banff where Jeff, Tom + Deb worked during their 20’s.
We measured the rooms + Jeff made some calculations for figuring out how many gallons of paint we would need per square feet.
Um, pardon me??? It’s John Nash Time! 
It’s amazing to me that Jeff has a mind for numbers in this sense, but when it comes to finances, numbers might as well be written in Arabic. Hmmmm, a strange disease this selective understanding of numbers…..
Picking out paint at General Paints. The pictures from the last post were primer pictures. Et, now we paint, mes amis. 
We are like displaced people in our own home. Everything is tarped up + moved around. Jeff saw this picture of himself on my camera + thought it was a picture of a homeless guy at a soup kitchen.
Nope, it’s YOU, buddy!!! Breakfast with a Rubbermaid bin serving as a tray whilst sitting atop an exercise ball for a chair.
And it’s COLD in our house!!!! Single pane windows, probably zero insulation! My mom mailed me my down robe that I found at a thrift store in California. Jeff borrowed it for a morning. It is cozy heaven luxury, y’all!!!
Jeff is a serious professional painter, people!!!! He’s been doing most of the work this weekend, while I’m just his helper bee. I’ve been very grateful, indeed! Look! So tall, he doesn’t even need to stand on a ladder to paint the ceiling – lucky guy!!! 
The house is such a crazy, upside down mess – it’s totally driving me up the wall. There’s stuff piled wherever there’s a space + seeing all the disorganization makes my skin crawl!!! I NEED ORDER!!!! I CAN’T LIVE LIKE THIS!!!! Jeff is trying to distract me in the background with a little painting intermission by playing some air guitar. Nice one, Jeff.
Next, a little caulking sounds delightful, doesn’t it?
Now that the living room is painted white, the gaps between the wonky walls + the crappy cheap trim is devastating. The caulking makes A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!!!!!! Why didn’t any of the previous tenants think of caulking before in this house? I mean, I wouldn’t have – but regard this close up picture + you shall all observe!!!
Thank the heavens that Jeff is a handyman. Like Schneider from “One Day at a Time”.
Moustache + all. Check out those sweet bell bottom jeans.
Und now, ladeez und gentlemens!!! The piece de la resistance in the living room! A week ago I picked up 4 Ikea Billy bookcases from a nice gal who listed them on Craigslist for a great price. Today Jeff + I picked up a 5th piece in the “As Is” section at Ikea for a discount (the “As Is” section ROCKS at the Ikea in Richmond! In Los Angeles, it’s so ravaged by Ikea vultures that you’d be lucky to find a cracked pot!). These suckers fit snugly against the wall as if they were made for it!!!
I bought Jeff a Dremel Multi-Max MM20 for his birthday
which he used to cut a hole into the back of one of the bookcases.
This is to have access to the ugly fuse box, which we will cover up with a picture.
Celebrate with Korean dinner!!!
Korean beef, rice, spinach, miso soup + kimchee!!! We still don’t have proper plates + bowls, since they’re still in my storage in Bellingham. It’ll all come together little by little! I just have to be patient! But Jeff is an insane work horse, so it won’t be long!
The living room is looking amazing!!! Pretty soon it will be like a real, livable home!!!
how's it going, eh? 
Great post Shells, I loved the reference to “A Beautiful Mind”. I also love the Ikea bookshelves! They look great👍. You and Jeff are such hard workers! Can’t wait to see the place when it’s finished!😊
And I can’t wait for you to come up for a visit!!!!!
Looking good kids! xoxo
Thanks, Liz!!! Slowly but surely we are determined to make this place sparkly!!!
Even though it is a long, hard slog, I can see how it is really all coming together. The smiling face of Jeff really tells the story of how proud you both must be to finally have a place of your very own to work as team Fayle-Nishino! Go team!
Awwwww!!! Thanks A!!! That is really sweet of you to say!!! It’s amazing how much difference a coat of paint can bring!! Go Team!!!
You guys inspire me, I look forward to living with my husband….sigh. I love the pictures, and the commentary. This week has been another rough week for me, so your sense of humor is much appreciated. A couple of weeks ago I lost my wallet…we got these new machines at work (at a hospital) in which we are to place OR (operating room) scrubs. Note to self: DO NOT leave wallet in pocket of OR scrubs when depositing it into the scrubEX machine. SIGH. Yeah. I had to renew my driver’s license (which I just got after changing to my married name), cancel credit cards, my ARRT (radiology license) card, and my passport card. I asked by phone when I talked with a real live human being if cancelling my passport card would also cancel out my passport book (both of which I just got a few weeks ago — just after getting married). He assured me that it wouldn’t. He told me he would cancel the card by phone but that I still had to fill out and mail a DS 64 form. Ok, easy enough, I can still use my passport book, who needs the card anyway… so I mailed the form clearly stating that it was only the CARD not the passport book (the part that would need to be filled in to report the passport book missing I LEFT BLANK…..so I get a letter back from the US government that my passport book and passport card are now BOTH reported lost and will need to be reapplied for. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????????????
Just when I think I’m making progress….one step forward, two steps back. I know that eventually we will look back onto this time and have a good laugh, but right now it feels like I’m banging my head against a solid rock wall….waaaaa-waaaaa-ha-boo-hoo, sniff, sniff, yeah ok, “suck it up, buttercup” as my sweet hubby would say, gently, while giving me a gentle caress, and then say “you know it’s going to be ok”…
So you see, your blog is therapeutic! I see all the whimsey of your struggles, and say to myself “in order to really enjoy and appreciate the blessings ahead, I have to earn them by going through all this here nonsense now”….
I so look forward to being able to look back on this with a chuckle. 🙂
That’s so nice of you to say, Susan!!! I keep up with this blog to keep in touch with my American + Canadian friends + family, but it’s also a little outlet for other American/Canadian couples that have to deal with separation! Technically, I’m not “living” with Jeff. I’m still “visiting”. Immigration is really a pain. And that REALLY stinks about your passport book + card! What a mess up on their part! Unfortunately it’s YOU that has to pay the price! That stinks!!! Don’t worry, you will look back at all of it + it’ll be worth it!!! Keep it up!
HOLLA, Nan, yup yip yep, the ole homestead is looking Good,
it’s finally looking like a place U will be comfortable 4 now !!!!!
haha, also luv the characterization and reference 2, ” Beautiful
Mind”, your lucky, Jeff’s a work-horse, and where did U get the
K-grind’zee, yummm, i want some when we come-UP, cheers!!!!!
Of course you + Ashley are the ones loving the “Beautiful Mind” reference!!! Film buffs!!!! 🙂 The Korean Beef was Trader Joe’s!!! Oh yeah!!!! More on that later!!!! Bellingham, woo-hoo!!!!
My、The painting of inside the house is going very well. I love the bookcase which is perfect fit in the wall space.
Two of you are very creative couple and you will have no time to fill those spaces for your favorite books and etc. . I love the picture of a knight and a princess covering the fuse box and praying for you and Jeff for blessings. It is the double effects. Jeff is so smart and hard worker. Keep having a fun work. Take care!!!!!
love and miss you, mommy
I KNEW YOU’D LOVE THE PICTURE!!!! Haha!!! Jeff is such a hard worker!!! Love + miss you too Mom!!!