Varnishing, Varnishing, Varnishing

The focus around the house lately has been woodworking and varnishing. After finishing the tongue-and-groove ceiling in 2/3 of the upstairs, we've put the rest of that project on hold for reasons I am not yet emotionally prepared to discuss.

Instead, we now have our second interior door (for the laundry room), most of a stair case, and lots of trim scattered about in various stages (cut, sanded, and varnished with coats 1,2, or 3). A few pieces have actually even been installed. I had been getting used to the "construction" stairs and raw sheet rock edges, but now that the woodwork is going up, I am falling in love with the house all over again.

We had a few friends over to celebrate Scott's 53rd birthday with a "Minnesota Hot Dish" party, and that served as a self-imposed deadline for completing the main run of stairs. Scott finished them just about an hour before our guests arrived. Here are Jack and a couple of his friends sitting on the stairs during the party, which is exactly what Scott had in mind.

Jack had a great time at the party, but he was goofing off during this pictures so he looks a little too much like Stewart from Mad TV here. I'm afraid I'm responsible for his unfortunate haircut. His chin is roughed up from falling off the bed while horsing around. To balance things out, here is another, much cuter picture of Jack from that evening:

Scott has been called back to work at the Forest Service for the summer, starting mid-May. It will be interesting to see how far we get before that, but I am pretty confident that we won't be moving our bed out of the living room anytime soon. That's not all that bad, though - it's a pretty nice living room, and it's getting nicer all of the time.