Joss Whedon has long been my favorite screen writer/director. Ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though admittedly I didn't love the movie, the TV Show was one of my favorites. He just won my heart over again with Angel (which I actually didn't watch until I bought it on DVD), and even more so with Firefly and Serenity. Needless to say, I was super excited to learn that he was writing/directing The Avengers.

Friday night we saw the mostly highly anticipated movie of my life time, and I am happy to report, it was an absolute WIN! We loved it so much that I would like to go see it at least twice more before the baby comes. There was so much laughter in the theater that some of the actors lines could not be heard. The action was fantastic. The story was told well with the appropriate amount of drama. Well done, Joss. Well done!

We've had a super busy week. After one or the other of us being sick for nearly a month we finally felt well enough to get some stuff done around the house. Monday we went to Ikea to get some dressers to use as nightstands. (Our bed is really tall.) Which had the glorious side effect of giving the two of us enough storage to use Mike's old dresser in the baby's room. Mike put the dressers together while I finished re-painting the seams in the beadboard that he had re-caulked (with the right kind of caulk). Tuesday, Mike went mountain biking with Jason, while I spent time with my parents. We didn't get home until after eight, so we just did some much needed housework. Wednesday we had our birthing class, which meant we didn't get home until nearly 10, then we finished the touch up paint in the baby's room. Thursday we went shopping for some Closetmaid fabric storage bins, which were a pain in the butt to find at the Wal-Mart. I ended up not liking any of the colors, so we didn't even buy any. When we got home, Mike hung up the curtain rod in the nursery then we finished organizing and moving our clothes around. Tonight we shall: get Mike a haircut, go up to his mom's house to help her with her sprinklers, then go out to dinner and a movie with friends. After what I'm sure will feel like too little sleep (because even 12 hours feels like too little sleep these days) I'll wake up, attempt to make myself pretty, and go to a baby shower for my sister-in-law and me!

The crib is coming next Friday so stay tuned for pictures of the finished nursery!

For those of you waiting with bated breath to see the pictures of the finished nursery, we have bad news. It might be a while. Sadly, upon applying the 'final' coat of white paint to the bead board, we realized that we used the wrong silicone to fill in the gaps. We've been frustrated, disappointed, and down-right pissed all last week trying to figure out how to remedy the situation. We've tried scraping and peeling it off, which has not worked. We tried ignoring it, which also didn't work. Now we are going to try to put a thin layer of paintable caulk on top of the non-paintable silicone. Honestly, if it doesn't work we'll just have to live with it, but neither of us is very happy with that scenario. So wish us the best of luck, and the energy to try again.

We're about at the end. So no pictures for two reasons, to hold of the suspense of the final reveal, and two, not much interesting happened last night. When we got home Katie immediately got to work, while I cooked dinner. By the time dinner was done she had completely finished filling all the holes. After dinner she took at nap while I finished siliconing all the seams. Once it dries, the bead board is ready for paint! Katie wanted to get a bit extra done so she quickly finished painting the closet. We're going to take a night off tonight, and will be with family tomorrow, so the final painting should be on Monday. Stay tuned!

Tonight we got a later start. After getting home I first had to cook dinner (Salmon and grilled vegetables), before we could start. Katie worked on filling the nail holes, while I started applying silicone to the seams and corners. At 9PM I decided we needed to call it quits for the night, so we didn't quite finish.

Since I don't have many pictures, here's the results of my spraying the first coat on the bead board, along with a first coat on the trim.

Tonight when we got home I immediately started on the chair rail. I finished cutting all the pieces I would need, and dry fit them to ensure proper fit. Next Katie came in and helped me level them out as I nailed them in. I got to use my finish nailer, which worked great! We got all of them hung quickly.

The last thing I needed to do was trim out the corners. I took out my dremel tool to carve out a bit of the base boards for the trim to slip into. Once it's all siliconed and painted it will look great!

Tonight we got home and I got to work. I started cutting the last of the bead board. After all my pieces were cut we did a marathon to hang them. One, then the next, then the next. Katie electrocuted herself again. It actually went really quick.

After that I wanted to get some of the trim cut, so I measured the one that would be cut short and made that 45 degree cut. I also cut another quickie that would be full length, but just need 45's on both ends.

It's starting to come along much quicker, and I can see the finish line. Tomorrow I'll try to finish the chair rail, then will be some corner trim, putting silicone in the gaps, and filling the nail holes, followed by a last coat of paint.

And Katie adds: "P.S. we still have to finish the missed spots in the *)(@#$ closet! (Don't ever paint a closet)"

Time for the complex stuff. I started measuring and cutting the bead board. We found out quickly that our base trim was not very level. Oh well, we'll do the best we can! So we started applying it. Liquid Nails on the back, some brad nails in the front. It was nice to be able to use my new nail guns, the brad nailer worked great! It was during this time Katie electrocuted herself. That got me a little concerned about what I may do to the boy, but he was moving around later in the day.

We kept working. I would measure and cut, then call in Katie to help glue and hold it, while I nailed it in. We got about 1/3 of the way done and ran out of glue. It was time for another Home Depot run.

This one we knew would be bad. Another gallon of paint, glue, other small needed tools, and the chair rail. Another expensive trip, hopefully the last one.

When we got home I started work on the chair rail while Katie took a nap. What I did was route out the bottom to fit flush over the bead board, and against the wall at the same time. Basically to look like this:

So I took each board and ran it over the table router a couple times to get the depth I wanted. It worked perfectly!

Once I was done I took them all downstairs and sprayed them with a first coat of paint. Back upstairs I hung a couple more sheets of bead board, and called it a night.
(cell phone pic)