#2021

Progress

2012-01-29T17:43:00.000-08:00

We are really coming along! Wahoo!

View from the current kitchen.

View from entry between new kitchen and living room.

From near the entry to back hallway.

Up close with the new sconces.

Good stuff. One nice thing is that the mineral oil we're using on the soapstone smells like roses. Delightful.

This is not to say that all is perfect. There is still a crapload of work to do. We need to finish the windows; paint the ceiling; install the trim around four entries and two windows; paint the trim; install the fridge; install the garbage disposal and faucet (plumber is coming tomorrow); hook up the gas to the cooktop; paint the walls; and figure out how to put the doors on the ovens. But overall, reflecting on the giganticness of the whole project, we're in the home stretch.

After that, we have some major tiling to do in the back hallway/powder room and in the current kitchen/future dining room. After that, we are taking a bit of a break, because we are worn out, physically, emotionally and financially.

WOW!

2012-01-07T17:41:00.000-08:00

What a HUGE day at #2021! When I returned home from grocery shopping, this is what I found in my kitchen! AMAZING! Isn't this the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

The Ceiling

2012-01-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

... Is progressing nicely! And will not be nearly as difficult to finish as I anticipated (knock on wood). Here are some pix of the first panel of planking. There are seven of these roughly 6 x 8 sections, partitioned off by the boxbeams. We'll be painting this in an antique white (let's be honest--we'll be paying someone to spray paint this one...). I am very pleased, and VERY proud of Eric, who has engineered the crap out of this ceiling.

Well, this is embarrassing.

2012-01-01T17:22:00.001-08:00

It's been since September. This is due to a combination of 1) busy-ness (about 15%) and 2) laziness (83%). And 2% forgetfulness. I am not as smart as I was 25 months ago.

Anyway, we are wrapping up a glorious two-week vacation, half spent up north and half here at home. I spent the vast majority of it in sweatpants, which in my book makes for a GREAT vacation. Little Harp is a delight. She talks constantly. We understand about 10% of what she's saying, but she learns a new word or two every day and is a wonderful girl. This week, we have visited museums (Eiteljorg and Children's) and had a fine old time.

The house is coming along, but SO SLOWLY. It is starting to wear me down. That I am only now starting to be worn down after 3.5 years of living in one construction project or another is a testament, I think, to my patience. But yeah, it will be wonderful when this D*** kitchen is done.

We are getting there, though, so I don't mean to make it sound like I'm in the depths of despair or anything. The tile is down, the wall is opened, the windows are in, the walls are up, and the ceiling is half finished. The electric and plumbing are done, but waiting for final inspection when things are all closed in.

Originally, we had planned to go with a golden slate tile. For one reason or another, we didn't. We ordered what we thought was greenish slate tile, and as it turned out, we had ordered greenish porcelain tile. The good news is that we liked this tile a lot, so we laid it and it looks great.

I, staying true to my habits, got in a big yank to paint, and selected a color on a whim, invested significant time and money into it, and now I am not at all convinced that I picked the right color or even like the color. This is par for the course, and I am learning to just say no when it comes to making these kinds of decisions. Anyway, you can just barely see the paint around the window here--this is a new window, by the way. The old one was too long, and this one will create space for countertop to go beneath it.

The ceiling is the main thing that is slowing us up right now. It will be very cool when it gets done, but it is going to take a lot of work to get it done. We're doing box beams with planks in between the boxes. At this point, I would be thrilled with a smooth drywall ceiling, but we are where we are.

I just went through a bunch of pictures, and realized I have not been tracking our progress very well. Will post more pix tomorrow.

A New Year's resolution--better documentation. Just in case y'all need proof after I'm found expired under a pile of sawdust and cement board...

2011-09-09T07:13:00.000-07:00

Dare I Say... Progress?

2011-08-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

No doubt that tonight a bolt of lightning will strike and I will learn to hold my tongue... um, fingers. Whatever.

First things first. The deck. This deck has been a work in progress for, ohhhh, since I got pregnant. I remember it quite vividly because the evening I told Eric I was pregnant was the same evening we moved in a bunch of lumber from the slab out back to the yard. And the weekend we told my parents was the weekend Eric and Dad actually built the thing. So 7 months pregnancy, and Harper is now 20 months old... So almost 2.5 years. But, if we needed 2.5 years to get to this, perhaps it was worth it. This deck is a wonder.

The kitchen, we've only been working on for the last four months or so, and we're at a very good point. It still LOOKS terrible, but there has been major work done in there. Eric took up all the hardwood and some of the subfloor, refloored and cement boarded the floor to prep for tile, took down the drywall on the walls and ceiling, built the frame for the island, installed a header for the opening in the wall between the kitchen and dining room, and removed the windows in order to make enough room for the countertop. Plus, electric is finished and plumbing is all done except for the gas line. Next steps are tile, drywall, cabinet installation and appliances. We're reusing our fridge, microwave and dishwasher (which has actually never left its box in the foyer) but we'll get a new wall oven and cooktop. Here's what it looked like a couple weeks ago.

And here's what it looks like now. Nice.

And outside.

More soon.

Margaritaville...

2011-08-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Someone at work yesterday said the word "margarita." Or actually, it might have been "limes." Anyway, since that moment, I have had margs on the brain. I used crappy tequila and a mix from a bottle, but tossed in a few strawberries, and darn it if this isn't the most delicious drink ever. :)

Things are interesting here at #2021. Little bunny continues to be a joy and a delight. She is a trip, and becoming more hilarious by the day. She learned to dance the other night, and entertained us this morning with some killer trick moves. She talks constantly, and is using some real words now--"night night" is a favorite, along with "see you later," "bye-bye," "hi," "puppy," and a bunch of others. Remember how I was despairing a while back about her refusal to say mama? Well, she says it now, and it's a lot like this:

I actually despite Family Guy, but this one paints a pretty accurate picture.

It's thundering rather dramatically out there right now, but no rain yet. It is dry as a bone out there. We have mowed our lawn once since June. Of course, we don't mow all that much even when it does rain because we're THAT house. Yes, you know the one. But it makes little sense right now to kick up dust and disturb the cicadas simply to cut down that one weed that has managed to grow three feet tall during a drought. Sigh.

Eric is making pretty dramatic progress on the house, but that is the next post. For now, I leave you with a shot of the little monkey making her escape with pigtails.

Back to Normal

2011-06-26T18:47:00.001-07:00

What a week.

Harper has been feeling pretty bad this week. Last Friday, she spiked a high fever and then proceeded to puke and poop and every other disgusting thing you can think of ALL OVER ME for the next 48 hours. Her fever broke Sunday evening and she seemed back to her normal self, if a little lethargic. Well, then her molars started hurting her very badly. She ran another low fever and was little miss cranky pants for the next 5 days. Today, I feel as though the baby girl I know and love is back with us after being replaced by Bizarro Harper--no fever, no crankies, sleeping peacefully, molars have broken through, and she took a 4 hour nap today. I am hopeful that tonight we will make it all the way through with no marathon crying sessions, wanting to sleep not with me but ON me when I finally break down and bring her into bed with us, or angry baby words over the monitor, because even though I'm not teething or sick, I, too, am cranky.

In other news, we had a busy weekend. Despite hating beer, I went to Brew Ha Ha downtown and was crushed by the humanity--too many drunkards in one space, I think. But still had a lovely time with our fantastic neighbors. Today, I met up with an old friend from grad school in the Fe, and for just a little while, felt like I was 23 again. I also ate at Yats, which is always good.

The house is progressing slowly, due mainly to it raining on strategic days, and general busyness on both our parts. Eric is making significant progress on the deck, which he is painting with a artist paintbrush--like what you'd use for an actual painting. I think this explains the pace pretty well. He is making measurements and drawing all over what is left of the walls in the new kitchen, which signifies progress to me even if I don't know what it's all about. I am feeling pretty proud of myself because I put away at least 8 loads of laundry today. Whoo!

Another post for my mom

2011-05-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

I am taking the advice of my mom (mark the date!) and setting my sights on something a little less busy and a little more classic for potential drapery for the big window. So, mom, what do you think about any of these? Clearly, I'm feeling green.

This last one is my favorite. What do you think?

Tunes #11-16

2011-05-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

#11 - A Guilty Pleasure Song

Raise Your Glass by Pink. I actually like just about everything by Pink.

#12 - A Song No One Would Expect Me to Love

Heaven (Where True Love Goes) by Yusuf Islam. Now, I love the Cat, but generally I'm not into denominational music or denominational anything. I just kind of close my ears at the points where it talks about being saved and knowing His name, and this song really is beautiful.

#13 - A Song that Describes Me

Only Happy When It Rains by Garbage. This probably described me more when I was young, maybe between 16-24--back when I had time and energy to enjoy it when things were complicated. Still, great memories about this song (this whole album, really).

#14 - A Song I Used to Love But Now I Don't

Let the Drummer Kick by Citizen Cope. I still kind of like this song, particularly the opening, but I REALLY don't like the stream of "tion" words masquerading as lyrics. But, it's still a good hook.

#15 - A Song From My Favorite Album

High and Dry by Radiohead. Best album, and one of the best bands. Seriously, this whole record is just perfect.

#16 - A Song For Angry Times

Positive Tension by Bloc Party. We saw these guys at the Orpheum in Boston and they were awesome. I listened to this song a lot when I lived in Boston, and I felt angry a lot in Boston, so I suppose the connection forged itself.

Tunes #6-10

2011-05-18T20:14:00.000-07:00

#6: A Song that Reminds Me of Somewhere

Wouldn't It Be Good by Danny Hutton Hitters. This song reminds me of Elsey 3rd North at good old FC. I played this song over and over and over from August-October of 1997. I was a new RA in college, had my own little dorm room, and wore out this tape from playing and rewinding (tapes! wow, I feel old.)

#7: A Song that Reminds Me of a Certain Event

Dreams by Van Halen. I'm not a huge fan of VH, but Eric is, and he insisted that Dreams be the last song that played at our wedding reception. I will forever remember Eric and his best man drunkenly embracing each other, and then the best man climbed onto the luggage cart and demanded to be taken to his room. What a night.

#8: A Song I Know All the Words To

I have one of those freakish memories where I can remember the words of just about every song I hear (yet can't remember what I did 10 minutes ago). But this one has a story... Losing My Religion by REM. I know all the real words, but I also remember the words to a song we made up to the melody at Band Camp, in 8th grade.

http://youtu.be/if-UzXIQ5vw

#9: A Song I Can Dance To

Destroy Everything You Touch by Ladytron. This song takes me back to Heroes in Boston, the best dance night EVER.

http://youtu.be/dtqGoHouoE0

#10: A Song From My Favorite Band.

Hey! by The Pixies. Picking a favorite band is tough. But I think I'll go with The Pixies. I spent most of the summer before I went to college listening to The Pixies and playing Solarian on my huge PowerMac. For variety and listenability, you can't beat The Pixies.

Eric of Mass Destruction

2011-05-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is a lot of DEstruction and little CONstruction going on at #2021... Right now, in addition to the various electrical and plumbing quotes we're hearing, we are also doing some tuckpointing in the basement. This is necessary and we have been meaning to do it for a long time. A couple summers ago, we had the exterior foundation walls done, and that helped a lot, but given that our north neighbor has gutters, but those gutters are growing trees because they are so full of debris, we don't get a lot of water control on those days (apparently EVERY day, because it hasn't stopped raining since March) when it rains uncontrollably. So, interior tuckpointing. AND, as I've noted before, our basement entry has a door, but that door is at the bottom of a pit that does not have stairs. We're not surewhere the stairs went, but the walls around the pit were starting to cave, and without a cover forthe doorway, we inevitably had some leaking. With the purchase of a new furnace,it became ever more important to make sure that we're not messing around with leaks. So, here we are.

The Pit of Despair. Don't even think about trying to escape.

Our backyard. This is actually an improvement.

Meanwhile, work persists, albeit at a snail's pace, in the kitchen. The subfloor is nearly complete.

And, for a reason I don't yet fully understand, studs have been exposed. This wall will, ultimately, be opened. But yeah, not sure why now. The good thing? The orange paint is coming down. This color has haunted my dreams since it went up.

Tunes

2011-05-18T19:25:00.001-07:00

There's this 30 day music challenge making the rounds on Facebook. It intrigues me, because I think about music a lot, but I kind of hate Facebook. So, why not here? Also this might inspire me to do more houseblogging--there's actually a lot going on right now. None of it close to finished, but this is my life...

Day 1: My favorite song

Grace by Jeff Buckley. Hands down. Some boy my freshman year of college made me a mix tape and while the relationship went nowhere fast, this song was on it, and thus began a (to-date) 15 year love affair with a deceased troubadour. My poor Jeff--how I love him.

#2: My least favorite song. This one is stupid.

#3: A Song that Makes Me Happy

Why Can't I Be You by The Cure. Just the thought of Robert Smith rehearsing his dance moves for this video slays me. The Cure is so dramatic and self-absorbed--so 80s! I love it.

#4: A Song that Makes Me Sad

I Grieve by Peter Gabriel. Tremendous song, and reminds me of the (thankfully few) sad times in my life.

#5: A Song that Reminds You of Someone.

Too Shy by Limahl and Kajagoogoo. Reminds me of Ashlee, of course. We used to sing this song to each other as we worked on the Massachusetts state budget.

Kitchen Plans

2011-05-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

I know that the plans I posted the other day didn't work, and I ended up giving a huge explanation of a picture that doesn't exist. Sigh.

Here are two actual pictures of what we're thinking the kitchen will look like. I will write more about this, as well as post pictures of what it ACTUALLY looks like, tomorrow, when I will not have just been at work for 14 hours.

2011-05-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

I just have to brag. Is this not the cutest kid in the world, or what!?

2011-05-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

Kitchen cabinets! We bought them! They're on order, so we don't have them yet, and I still shudder to think at the size of the check I wrote on Friday night, but despite the fact that the floor is ripped up, this is still the clearest sign to date that the kitchen remodel is actually happening.

We went with Kraftmaid, Mapleton Square cabinets, which seem pretty darn nice, if not totally custom. We ended up going with a painted finish, surprising ourselves. In discussing it on the way to the store, we both just kind of came to the realization that we wanted paint. So, it's a sort of antique white finish. Nice.

I am having the hardest time finding pictures of the cabinets that aren't embedded in some flash feature, so just go to this website to see them.

We're going with another slate tile for the kitchen floor. Of course, we have slate tile in the current kitchen, but it would be far too easy to stay with the same tile. This is what it looks like--not exactly but close. Of course, I didn't take pictures of either the cabinets or the tile when I was in their presence. I think our slate is a little less golden than this, and ours is 16x16.

As I was hoping, my mom was brutally honest about my fabric selections for the big window--hesitantly so, of course. We were in the parking lot of Babies r Us (entrance to hell) and I asked, "so, did you see the blog." Mom said, "Umhumm."
"So, what did you think?"
"Well..."
"What about the orange one?"
"For the curtains?"
"No, but really, what did you think?"
"Well, let me just tell you that when you have the curtains up, there are going to be folds, so you're not going to really see the pattern, and the curtains are A LOT, and I just think that those fabrics would really really be a lot on that window."

Okay, then. See, that wasn't so hard. Sometimes I have to have someone tell me that my decisions are utterly poor taste. If I'd had mom giving me opinions all the time, maybe I wouldn't have a chocolate brown bedroom. It is truly hideous.

In other news, obvs, the fam is in town. Just for the night. Harpster sure enjoys having Grammy and Pap around, and was in rare form this evening, showing off her impressive growling and howling skills, along with her screaming skills, when she really didn't want to sit in her high chair, and when she did a face plant into the floor after tripping over the coat rack. She took a 30 minute nap today--surprisingly good spirits, especially since she is usually a total pill when she gets sleepy to her core.

A Post for My Mom

2011-04-24T18:08:00.001-07:00

My parents are decorators, and are very talented. I try to ply them for tips when they're here, but they're also sensitive about this being "our" house and don't want to impose. To that, I say PSHAW! So, here's the deal. We have this great big window at the stair landing, and it's pretty awesome. It would be even more awesome if it were 100% weather tight (it gets a little drafty in the winter right now) and if it didn't look at my neighbor's ever-more-decrepit house. This has been an ongoing battle. We're in detente right now, but look for things to pick up this spring as the weather improves and we have more sightings of our neighbor in only her housecoat picking up leaves in her yard on windy days. Not cool.

So, we're looking for a window covering. Something that we can pull closed during winter months to avoid drafts, something that will frame the giganticness of it all, and something that will soften up the rather stark wood (which we're going to replace and paint off-white, but will still need something to lighten the mood). So, Mom, I know I've been rather impossible to work with here, as I have something pretty specific in my head, but can't translate it into words. I looked at about a trillion fabric patterns, and here are just a couple examples that caught my eye, both in terms of print and colors. They all have birds on them--this doesn't mean I need birds in the fabric we go with, but I've been thinking about birds, and I like the shapes, so just consider them inspiration.

This one: You know I'm a sucker for yellow, and I like the yellow/gray contrast. However, we're planning on painting the big hallway the same color as the back hallway, which despite being called "relaxed khaki," actually looks kind of green. But I do like the pattern here. I wonder whether it might be better suited to a bedspread than curtains.

The simplicity of this one is what I like. Plus, the colors are nice. It may be too "cute." Although I think it would be too cute in a pillow--maybe with yards and yards, it transitions from cute to striking?

This one is probably my favorite of them all--the birds on laundry lines. Both because I like the way you have to look twice to see that it's actually a specific pattern, and because it kind of looks like piano keys. But is it too small a print for such large drapes? And even more important, is this a cliche? Because I've seen this before in hipster boutiques.

I really kind of hate this pattern, but I like the colors.

And I'm inexplicably drawn to this one, probably for the master bedroom. I think that color combination is really pretty, and would look nice with dark carpet on the floors if we used it for either the curtains or a spread or a headboard (not all of them at once, of course). This is really surprising to me--you'd think after the Kenny Rogers Roasters situation I've got going on in the dining room, I'd be orange averse forever.

2011-04-17T17:27:00.001-07:00

Moving forward! I like it! While we're still struggling to finish projects that were started two years ago (ahem, Eric... the deck...), we're making progress on the kitchen. Eric just yesterday finished ripping approximately 8,000 nails out of the dining room subfloor in preparation for plywood and/or cement board and tile. And today he went to put the down payment on our countertops! Soapstone!!!!!

A picture of our stone. We went with a semi-local company, The Stone Studio out of Batesville, IN. www.thestonestudio.com/home Eric has been the point of contact, and these folks have been super helpful and we're both pleased we could support a local business. Plus, the stone is awesome.

Eric has also finished the kitchen layout--he's bound to this one, as the stone order was based on it. This is a good thing, because we all know he could spend the next year working on this design. So, top left is facing toward the back of the house, where there's currently that doorway and the window. Not a huge change, except for the fridge and wall oven. Top right faces the south wall, which is currently loaded with three double-hung windows. We're going to remove one entire window, and the lowers on the other two, and this is where we'll have our cabinets and stovetop. Finally, bottom picture is the overhead, and shows the island, where we'll have the sink and dishwasher. A DISHWASHER!!!! It will be glorious to have a dishwasher actually installed and not just sitting in the foyer.

2011-04-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I posted on this blog that blogger forgot me and delinked my account. Yikes. It could also have been that I used the wrong email address. Whatever.

All is well at #2021. The Harpster is peacefully sleeping through the night (most nights) in her own crib--a relatively recent development that was 1) hard, and 2) necessary. She figured out what was going on pretty quickly, and after just one night of waking up every twenty minutes to yell at us, decided she digs sleeping in her own bed and now wants nothing to do with our pre-bed cuddle time. Which KILLS me because it's my favorite part of the day. Sigh. My baby's growing up.

She is talking up a storm, but in a language that only she knows. Very elaborate sounds and words, hand gestures, beseaching look on her face like "why the hell can't you understand what I'm saying," etc., but few recognizable words. Dada is a favorite, both in words and in person, as are "Da!" which means dog, especially when accompanied by a pointing finger at either of the puppies or at a dog on the tv. She has said Yogi clearly several times, but refuses when I ask her to say it. She will not say mama. I know she can, but she won't.

Eric is busy at work on our upcoming kitchen remodel--it has been a long time coming. We are finally in the right position to be able to do this, and now that it's here, I'm a little scared. We're moving the kitchen into what was formerly the dining room--a MUCH larger room that opens up into the living room, and should make for the kind of space we've been looking for. Eric just ripped up the wood floors in there, and while we were expecting some of the nails to stick in the subfloor, we thought most of them would come up with the hardwood (likely original to the house, and for the most part unsavageable). That is not what happened. The wood is SO old and so paper thin that every single nail stayed in the subfloor. S, we have a 16x18 room, formerly floored with 2 inch planks, with double nails every six inches. I can't do the math, but that is a crapload of nails to rip up by hand. He's nearly finished after about 10 hours of work.

Next up is tile. We're going to do slate in here, and then carry it through to the current kitchen and into the foyer/half bath. Thankfully, the subfloor is in really good shape, so we'll just need to slap down a layer of cement board and tile will go down. Electrician is coming on Friday to install a new panel that will cover the kitchen. Whooo!

In the meantime, I am hoping to get over a nasty cold that has left me sounding like, according to my boss, Al Pacino.

2011-01-27T18:46:00.000-08:00

2010-11-23T17:43:00.001-08:00

Harp is crawling like a crazy baby now, leaving a path of primary colored destruction behind her.

[i tried to post a video, but it was taking forever, so i must not be doing it right...]

Since my last post, we've celebrated her first birthday, which is amazing to me. I remember some things about this time last year very vividly, like yelling at the doctors, but most everything else is a big blur. During my sick time, I just slept a lot. Anyway, we are super lucky to have our munchkin, who is by all accounts an exceptional child. Okay, maybe just my and her papa's accounts, and her Grammy and Pappy's--we are all smitten. She's crawling like a champ, obviously, has said "dada" and "doggie" pretty clearly and multiple times (though she has NOT said mama, which is killing me). She has two teeth, can rock some barrettes in her hair, pulls herself up on the furniture, and has learned that I yelp when she pinches. She thinks that's hilarious.

In house news, the new furnace went in at the beginning of the month, and it seems like it's working okay. I really hate spending money on things like a furnace when there are so many things that we could spend that money on that I could SEE. Ah well. I am waiting for our next gas bill, which I'm hoping willshow that we're using far less. That will be a victory. Eric is very nearly finished with the deck, though we're afraid now that it's going to be too late in the year to really finish it up. We're having a stretch of warm weather now, so it would be ideal if he could get some painting done, but the kiddo kind of puts a cramp in those plans. This weekend, of course, when we're off for four days, it's supposed to be 40 degrees. Anyway, it's looking great, despite the lack of paint on some parts. Eric, however, insists upon covering it up with huge sheets of plastic, so rest assured that our trash-factor is still in the high-90s.

Dare I Say It?

2010-10-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

The deck is Done!!! Okay, it's NEARLY done--just needs the top boards for the railings and to be painted and stained, but we are closer than ever before. Thank you Eric and cousin Matt for putting in a long weekend working hard. I will be very excited when it's finished, mainly because it'll just be nice to finally finish a project that took well over a year, and also because it will enable Eric to get all of his tools out of the "kitchen." He will likely just put them back in the "dining room."

I put these words in quotes because they really are just shells of rooms. Ah well. It'll happen.

Harpster is peacefully sleeping in her crib, though we've had several totally rough nights here at #2021. Harper has a cold and is producing copious amounts of snot (pretty unbelievable that such a little nose could create so much...) Anyway, she's been waking herself up snoring every hour or so, doing a lot of tossing and turning, etc. Myself, I've not had more than 2 or 3 consecutive hours of sleep in a week as a result, and does it show or what... Sleep deprivation does strange things to me mentally, and I'm not on top of my game, but I've also reached the clumsy-tired stage. This morning I broke the coffee pot, dropped my phone, tripped on the steps and did a couple other stupid things. Wish me luck for tonight.

2010-10-10T18:30:00.001-07:00

So, my mom keeps pointing out that it's been a long time since I've put anything up on the blog. It really has been. There's no point in keeping a blog if I'm not going to update it, so I kind of considered trashing it, but then figured that I'd spent so much time updating it when we were going through the house-buying, initial-renovating stage that it would be kind of a waste. So I'm going to make an honest effort.

We just got back from a great weekend up north, visiting the fam and hosting a baby shower for my sister, who is expecting in January. Wonderful time. It struck me when I was there that 1) Harper is growing up, and 2) we (okay, I) need to do a better job in setting my boundaries. The first night we were there, she slept through the night in her pack and play. The second night, woke up once, but no biggie. Last night, she threw the hissiest of hissy fits, crying like she's never cried before. So, rather than doing our regular 60+ minute cuddle time, Harpster and I cuddled for just a half hour or so, and then I put her, awake, in her crib. She cried for a while, but is sleeping somewhat peacefully now. She's holding on to the rails of her crib like she's in jail. I went in there and pried her little hands away, and, in her sleep, she reached for them again. So, whatever. Makes me feel like a warden, but whatever works.

Anyway, she's cute, right? I saw this picture and it hit me like a ton of bricks that she's becoming a little girl!

In house news, we're getting a new furnace at the end of the month. This one will be very high-efficiency (tax credit HOLLA!) and will be vented properly out of the side of the house and not up the chimney. After that, we'll be on a bit of a moratorium on projects through the winter, recouperating a little bit from that expenditure.

In the meantime, I've been eyeing this copy of a renovation magazine that has painted historic trim. Now, you've seen pictures and know that we have some original trim that is currently stained. It's looking a little rough (a lot rough) in some parts, and our front rooms, whose windows are west facing and covered by a large porch and our massive ferns, don't get a lot of light. That, plus the dark wood, and it's just a bit too much. So I've been considering painting the trim, and I think I'm set on it. This will be a pretty expensive fix, because in addition to sanding and painting, we're going to have to replace a bunch of the trim. But I figure this may be a good winter project that will keep us occupied with manageable costs while making a big impact on the look of the house. We'll also do the fireplace tile this winter.

Deck-Update: Eric is still working. We have one section of railing left, some trim, and paint/stain. Maybe by Christmas?

August?

2010-08-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

Where the heck did summer go??!

I'm not all that broken up about it, actually. I seek the Golden Mean, and therefore, appreciate fall and spring when it's not so fracking hot.

All is well, except between the hours of 11:00 pm and 6:00 am, when the Harpster apparently feels compelled to wake every 45 minutes and scream for no good reason. She has also started to only want to calm down when I'm carrying her on my shoulder while standing up. I can do this at 3:30 in the morning for only a limited time. It has been difficult. I am thinking she's acting up because she's been sick. She had a low fever for several days, and then broke out into this insane rash all over her body and face. We have been calling her Spot, but not while she's within earshot.

Eric is working like a little demon on the deck, finally. We're hoping for railings tomorrow! He also bought some solar post caps, so I'm thinking that the end must be in sight. Of course, I could be wrong. I thought the end was in sight last summer.

We had a photo shoot with Harper, photos by Ryan of Verbal Diarrhea. He is a very talented amateur photographer, but I have to say, he was working with limited cooperation on the part of his subject. She was NOT into it. But we did get a couple of good shots. Here they are:

And here is what she did the rest of the time...

Once a month...

2010-07-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

I never really noticed, but some friends (who actually read my blog, which blew me away) mentioned that I've been posting once a month. And that maybe I could do a little better. Verbal Diarrhea, I'm not promising anything, but I'm going to try.

Things are good here. I am, unbelievably, about a month into my new job, and I like it a little more every day, which I think is a good sign. I am very much in "invention mode" right now--lots of feeling inspired and jotting of good ideas down on scraps of paper, which I then find a couple days later, can't read because of my chicken scratching, and if I can decipher what I wrote, I can't figure out what I meant... But oh well. The nice thing about the current gig is that I'm starting something from scratch, so at this point, there is no chance of failure, and there's plenty of room for me to be abstract and non-sequential (an old boss called me this on many occasions--I'm still not sure if he meant it in a good way).

While I'm liking my new job, it has been WAY difficult leaving my old one. I knew it would be hard, of course, as I loved my old job, and especially loved my old boss, who is just an exceptional person. It's been tough being out of the loop. Actually, I've been somewhat engaged, because my replacement hasn't started yet and I left in the middle of about 2 dozen projects, and that may be even harder, because I know just a little about what's going on, just enough to tantalize me. There was a meeting with my old boss in my new office the other day. I went so far as to go to the conference room to say hi before it started, and then I left, but inside I was just dying to stay. Sigh. These are the problems I'm glad I have, though.

Harpster continues to be the world's most delightful baby. She's pushing herself up on her hands, and sticking her butt up in the air, and she's not aware that if she does both of these things at the same time, she's crawling. We're not pushing her in this direction, as we still have major babyproofing to do. She is taking to baby food pretty well, especially in the last couple days when she down some peas and sweet potatoes in no time flat. It's made diaper time more interesting and dangerous, but that's just my girl growing up.

I am disappointed to report that Harper was not voted as a finalist in the cutest baby contest. I have to believe that this was because many of the other babies who are cute, but not as cute as Harper, had organized voting blocs.

Eric is still working on the deck as his central house project. Yes, this is the same deck we've been working on since spring 2009. It is making me crazy.

Cutest baby

2010-07-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

I know it's totally lame, but I couldn't help myself. I entered Harper's picture into a cutest baby contest.

If you, too, think the Harpster is worthy of the title please vote here:

http://wxin.tribunepromotions.com/babies/tip_bb_wxin,0,5958695.ugcphotogallery?index=96816

Thanks!

Beach Baby

2010-06-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Peaceful evening here at 2021. Harpster is sleeping (keep your fingers crossed), the puppies are sacked out in their respective favorite places (Pix at my feet, Yogi at Eric's) and there's nothing to be heard except the hum of ceiling fans and the AC. Because it's fracking HOT outside.

We had a delightful time up north visiting my parents, as always.

Grammy spent a good deal of time during our visit singing with Harper. They make beautiful music together.

Pap continued his tradition of looking through American Heritage with Harper.

Harper continues to refine her "Blue Steel."

Higgins Lake, Michigan, is one of my favorite places on earth, and is where I spent most of my childhood summers. We had a wonderful day with Harper on the lake. She was pretty enthralled by the water and didn't complain a bit when we sat her down on the shore to let the waves hit her little buns.

I just think this is the cutest picture ever taken.

I start my new job tomorrow. I am a fun combination of excited and anxious, which does not bode well for getting a good night's sleep. The good news is that I have learned to function on no sleep. I will just have to hope that no one asks me to think critically or make important decisions.

As we gear up yet again to start work on the house, we're going to try to be very thoughtful about the whole thing. We haven't wasted any money on anything yet, but we're getting to a point where the remaining projects are pretty big ones and we need to do them in the right order. Here's how I'm seeing things emerge, depending on cash flow:

1) Replace/expand electrical panel

2) New furnace and vent upgrade (this will mean we will actually have a vent in the master bedroom and not just a hole in the floor with a vent cover on it...)

3) New carpet for master and guest bedrooms - since we're going to have to pull up the carpet in the master to do the vent, we might as well move with this.

4) Replace drywall around downstairs fireplace. Due to bad venting of the current furnace, we have some condensation issues that have wrecked the drywall on the chimney. We're just going to tear it down and start again.

5) Replace trim in living room. If we're tearing down the drywall, we'll just retrim everything. I was briefly considering painting all of the woodwork off-white, but I've been talked out of it.

6) Tile fireplace surround. We found some amazing tile up north--Pewabic. Loves.

7) Master bathroom. We already have the tile, which should help defray cost here. I've decided we're going to do a river rock floor in the shower. Eric will also have to knock out the back wall in the master closet and extend it into the bathroom so we have a decent size closet, and the bathroom isn't so weird shaped.

8) Refinish the floors.

9) Figure out where we're going to put the kitchen. We've been considering moving it to the current dining room. However, due to the window locations in there, it really doesn't give us any more wall space for cabinets than the current location does, though it would enable an eat-in kitchen... We'll see. Wherever we decide to put the kitchen, we'll finish up the other room to be a dining room. The good thing about keeping the kitchen where it is is that we'll be able to have a dining room/family room downstairs. I think that would be nice.

10) Finish the kitchen. It's my plan to start accumulating things for the kitchen--cabinets, fixtures, etc. so we're not slammed with everything at once. I have a picture in my head, but I can't describe it very well. I do know that I saw a picture of soapstone countertops the other day, and I can't stop thinking about them.

Ambitious, huh? I figure we'll maybe finish by the time Harper goes to college.

2010-06-09T18:41:00.001-07:00

Apparently screaming bloody murder for 20 minutes really wears one out, because that's what the Harpster just did before finally falling asleep. Ack. I hate this. She has been sleeping like crap for the last four nights or so, and I am getting to a stage where I'm pretty much falling apart--having trouble stringing words into sentences, tripping a lot more, feeling puffy... Not cool. Eric is being such a trooper and taking one of the night shifts, too. What we both need is just a solid 5 or 6 hours and we'll be good to go.

Everything else is good. I start a new job on June 21st, which I'm very excited about. I'll be working at the Lumina Foundation, which is a great place that does some absolutely fantastic work in my field. Can't wait, though very very sad to leave my friends at the Commission.

Eric spent the afternoon out on our wonderful neighbor's boat, and thankfully did not sunburn himself like he has every other time he's been on a boat. I'm pleased he had a good time. However, they apparently stopped for Steak and Shake on their way home, and Eric didn't get me a shake. He did call me several times, which I missed because Harp and I were upstairs reading Charlie and the CHocolate Factory, but still... When have I EVER not wanted a shake??? Feh.

Nothing happening with the house other than we finally broke down and bought some new porch furniture. It's red and lovely and matches our front door. I'm very happy with it. We got a big outdoor rug to go under it and with a couple plants and some candles, we'll have a great little seating area.

We head up north to visit the fam starting this Saturday. I am VERY excited to have a week off. We're going to introduce Harper to the lake. I have packed several swimsuits for her, including a little bikini that will probably not make it to the water, but we'll definitely try it on because it will be the cutest thing in the world.

A Late Night

2010-05-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it's only 9:50 pm, but to me, that is LATE. We go to bed around here at about 8, and generally that means Harp's asleep by 8:45 and I'm falling asleep with my glasses on and a book on my face around 9:15. But not tonight. First, I got an email from my mom asking when I was going to update the blog, which means that at least one person reads my blog, so I felt kind of obligated-slash-flattered. Second, and more to the point, Harper just went to sleep. And she only went to sleep because I put her in her crib and just let her fuss. That is not generally how we do things around here, as I like her sleepy time to be 100% positive, which I think helps us put her down in the evenings, and especially when she gets up in the middle of the night. But tonight, for whatever reason, she was not having it. I fed her, literally, for an hour and a half. We read some books (Roald Dahl, The Witches, and Anne of Green Gables... Still... This book is taking me forever... She doesn't understand yet, so it's not too advanced for her). We snuggled. And about four times, she fell asleep in my arms, but when I moved or put her in her crib, she woke up and gave me this huge smile. Anyway, she's down for the count now, and thank goodness, because I am quite literally out of food for her, and she already ate about 150% the size of her stomach. Her cheeks are getting enormous. They are so big that they get in the way when she tries to turn her head too far, and she often uses them as pillows. I don't think they measure up to my own cheeks back in the day, but she is still very young. The student may overtake the master.

Anyway, it has been a relatively non-eventful week. Other than tonight and last night (when she woke up 3 times and for good at about 6:45 this morning--argh), she is an amazing genius baby. She's also in the 97th percentile for height and weight for preemies her age. This is not entirely unexpected, because seriously, have you seen me and Eric? It was extremely unlikely in any case that the Harpster was going to be a ballerina or gymnast.

Have done nothing to the house, other than get that shelf put up in the attic, and Eric moved his books onto it. He also moved his drafting table up into his dormer office space, which clears out a ton of room in the main space of the attic. As soon as our fiscal recouperation period ends (like in 40 years) we'll get some nice new furniture for up there. Actually, I'm kind of considering it right now. We spend pretty much all of our time up there anyway--such a convenient space, especially with the baby. Doesn't make any sense for comfy furniture to be downstairs and ratty stuff to be up there. We would get new/new-to-us furniture for up there, not switch... Hum. We'll see. Porch furniture will have to come first.

Anyway, I don't have any pictures of the front of the house sans fence and with our new freaking gigantic Boston Ferns. They're amazing, these ferns. They actually provide shade, and are roughly the size of the big Tom Turkey that we saw up north a few weeks ago. HUGE. I had never seen a big turkey like that before with his feathers all crazy. However, I do have pictures of Harper, who is pretty much the cutest baby in the world. I'm pretty biased, but I legitimately think, putting my objective/terribly judgmental hat on, that she is an extremely attractive baby. Maybe we should enter a contest

2010-04-18T10:13:00.001-07:00

Good afternoon. Eric is out biking, Harper is fast asleep on my lap, and the puppies are off doing something that hopefully doesn't spread hair all over the carpet. It's been a long time, mainly because times like this are so few and far between.

Things are good, both on the baby- and house-fronts. Harp is doing wonderfully. Getting huge, and for two of the last three nights, she's slept through the night. Amazing. I am happy she's getting big, but kind of miss those days when she was so tiny. Anyway, we're treasuring these times.

House-wise, we've finished very little. We painted the back hallway, and have planned to hang some pictures, but haven't gotten around to it. Eric built and installed a shelf above the dormer window in the attic, so the books that are currently on the floor will have a home. The shelf is up but isn't painted, so the books remain on the floor.

One big project we finished... We finally FINALLY took down the disgusting fence in front of the house. Our yard still looks like crap (though our phlox are coming up very nicely), but without the fence, it just looks SO much better. Our plan is to do some more planting within the next couple weeks, and get some nice patio furniture, as spring is here and the porch parties will begin, and we'd like to have people over. Or even if we don't have people over, at least have the option to.

Before next late-fall, we have several major projects to finish... First, we're going to move the back door from the current kitchen into the nook between the kitchen and dining room. Eric found a wood exterior door with frosted glass, which would pretty much be perfect, as we want the light, but don't want folks from the houses behind us, or walking in the alley, to be able to see in. It was on craigslist, too, so less expensive than usual. Hope we get it. Eric is going to finally finish the deck, which is only unfinished because he decided to do such a detailed design on the railings. We also need to get a new furnace, as the current furnace is less efficient than we would like, and is venting into our chimney, which, come to find out, isn't lined. So on really cold days, it's creating condensation, which is hurting the brick and the drywall... Which means we have to replace the drywall/plaster in the living room. Ugh!!! But it needs to get done, so we'll get it done.

Pictures will follow. :)

2010-03-06T09:54:00.001-08:00

Despite her astonishing level of cuteness, Harper is being a bit of a pill today. Can you say growth spurt? She's wanting to eat every hour. Last week, she weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 oz, exactly 6 pounds over her birth weight. She's also 22 inches tall. BIG GIRL!!!

House projects are at a virtual standstill, though I did paint the back hallway last weekend. We still have some work to do on it, tho--needs a couple more spackle attacks because we missed some spots, and I have to do yet another coat. Plaster sucks. Everything else is on hold while we do a little fiscal recouperation.

Anyway, here are some new pictures for your viewing pleasure.

About Freaking Time

2010-02-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

I am so lame. But at least I have a good excuse. This kid is taking up all my spare time--between the hours of 8 pm and 5 am, we're in bed, because I've adopted the policy of quantity over quality. The quality is mighty poor at this point, as Harper gets her second wind at about 9:30 at night and it ends at about 2 in the morning. Up all night, sleep all day. My baby is a Slaughter fan.

Taken at 3:00 pm

Taken at 10:00 pm

But she's super cute. She's past the cooing phase that we all found so sweet, and now she's growling. Our neighbors watched her for a couple hours the other day, and they thought we were joking about the growling. Totally weren't.

Harper's new favorite pastimes are napping (only during daylight hours), dancing with mom, eating, watching the ceiling fan, eating, reading books, and eating. She especially likes reading with Grandpa, who does voices. She is eating like she has a tapeworm. We're adjusting to regular baby portions, instead of preemie portions. Occasionally, she'll indulge me with a good cuddle.

The puppies are adjusting to their new sister. So far, they're not terribly interested, but they act protective and bark like nuts when anyone comes to the door. This works out well for all of us.

I painted the upstairs bathroom a few weeks ago. It looks better than it did, but only slightly, because I didn't do a very good job, and it's not trimmed out. I also painted the ceiling in there, but ran out of paint so it's got white spots showing through. No idea when we're going to get back to Lowes. Would a semi-gloss on a drywall ceiling look stupid?

2010-01-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

I can't even think of a title for this post. Probably something like "Holy S***" or the like would be most appropriate, but this is a family show, so I'll just leave it blank. Life has changed tremendously, and while we have a long list of house projects that are worthy of house-blogging, they're on hold for the time being.

Harper came home a week ago after two long months in the NICU. Looking back at those 2 months, they felt SO LONG. Like 2 years. The driving back and forth between home and the Women's Hospital was a major contributing factor. We were lucky in that we actually live in the same city as the hospital--lots of people live hours away. But still. Jeez. My car was driving that route on its own by the end. Anyway, the NICU was not a delightful place, but the care Harper received there was just fantastic. Nurses are freaking saints, I tell you.

Since coming home, the Harpster has been doing pretty well. She's gained 12 ounces in the last week, staying true to her "big boned" Glover and Matson genes. She's very nearly 6 pounds now, and 19.25 inches tall. Her official due date is on the 29th, so she's still supposed to be on the inside. At this point, with the way she squirms, I'm very happy to have her on the outside.

Today, she had her first shots, and clearly, this has inspired her to "find her voice." She hasn't been much of a crier, but since getting home, she's cried A LOT. Poor little baby--those needles must've bruised her.

In house news, we're barely keeping ahead of the dog-hair tumbleweeds and the multiplying dishes, but we've turned up the heat, and I'm happy to report that indeed it is possible for this house to be, and stay, warm. It was just my miserly ways that kept us bundled up last winter. That said, I would be very happy if it would warm the hell up. I live in Indiana, not Alaska.

Mom and dad came down for the week and while they don't think they were much help, we really miss them. They were crazy helpful, and just having Grandma and Grandpa around was calming for all of us. The jury is still out on what we'll actually call Grandpa Glover. Right now, we're considering Pap, which was suggested by dad because that's what Arnold Palmer called his grandfather. I heard that one of my parents' friend's grandchildren calls him "Apple," which I think is the cutest thing I've ever heard. Maybe we'll come up with something creative like that when she learns how to talk in a few months (she's a prodigy, after all).

Anyway, that's life around here. More to come. We're lucky to have this little cutie home with us.

What a month...

2009-12-12T21:29:00.000-08:00

The title of this post is pretty much the understatement of the century. This has been the most trying, most RIDICULOUS month of our lives. But the story has a happy ending...

My last post was November 2. Well, November 3, I felt a little funky. Some light cramping, etc. I called my doctor and she said to go to the hospital if it got worse or didn't stop. So, of course, because I am a workaholic and can't set boundaries for myself, I stayed at work. Came home and laid down for a little while, and then, just as a precaution, Eric and I went up to the hospital to get things checked out.

So, I'm in the exam room at the hospital and the nurse and resident come in to check me out. They take a look, and immediately go get the doctor, who informs me that I'm fully dialated. And that I will be having a baby before leaving the hospital again. WHAT!??? The baby's due date was January 29, so we were talking three months early, plus, I was just not prepared to hear that. I wigged out. Called my parents, who were leaving from Montana the next morning and told them that they should head to Indy instead of Michigan.

That began the worst night of my life. They put me on magnesium to stop the contractions, and tipped me upside-down, head below my feet, to try to keep the baby inside. Magnesium is the worst drug in the world, and I was on such a high dose. It made me pretty crazy for a while. Then a doctor came in at 3 in the morning and told me about all of the problems the baby could have. Fantastic.

I ended up staying upside down in bed for about 6 days, and ended up having an emergency c-section on November 9, when beautiful baby Harper Stuart Matson was born. Sweetest baby in the world!!!!

Anyway, while Harper was safe in the NICU, I started recovering and eventually went home the Friday after delivery. That following Monday, though, when we were visiting Harper, I felt something weird in my incision. We turned around and checked back into the hospital, where I learned I had several hematomas, including a massive one in my tummy area. They also had to open a part of my incision. Awesome. This malady required that I be transferred over to the big St. Vincent's hospital, which, compared to the Women's hospital, is like Motel 6 and the Westin. Ugh. I was in the hospital for about a week with this issue, and also had to start daily IV treatments at the outpatient clinic when I finally got out.

It was at one of these treatments, the week of Thanksgiving, where the doctor became concerned that I was short of breath and that my heartrate was high. Turns out, I'd developed a pulmonary embolism. So, back to the hospital for another week. This was a weird week, part of which I spent in a deep funk, convinced that I was never going to be well again. I also yelled at several doctors and dropped a lot of f-bombs at them, which enabled me to get released to go visit Harper at the women's hospital. Generally, I like to settle my disputes reasonably, but the temper tantrum/ass-reaming I gave in this situation was effective.

Apparently, this last malady was quite serious. I didn't really realize that at the time, and I'm glad I didn't, because it just would have enhanced the foul mood and bad emotional state I was in basically all week.

Things are better now. I'm medicated to the gills, and have weekly check ups, but I've been out of the hospital for almost two weeks, which signifies to me that I'm over the hump. I'm walking upright (anyone who thinks that c-sections are a piece of cake is delusional--try getting up without any ab muscles), my incision is healing, embolism is apparently resolved, though will require follow-up.

But all of this was worth it, as we have our Harper, who has had so few problems that we are all a little stunned, including her doctors. As of today, she weighs 3 pounds 13 ounces, which is more than a pound more than she weighed when she was born (13 of those ounces have been gained in the last week!). She's still in the NICU, but she's in a big-girl crib, and is learning how to bottle and breast-feed. She's perfect. It's like the health issues were allocated between us, and I got all mine and all hers. And I am totally cool with that.

So, meet Harper, sweetest baby ever.

NEW CARPET!!!

2009-11-02T14:15:00.001-08:00

I was talking with my dad this afternoon, and he was totally right when he said that so much of our work on this house has been stuff you can't see--plumbing, electrical, etc. etc. Carpet is something I can see. I love it. Looks SO GOOD!!!

Here's the baby's room, painted and carpeted.

Man Cave! With a cameo by the Pix. She, too, is very excited about the new carpet, and is much less scared of entering either of these rooms now that they're not subfloor.

Eric is excited about getting a new tv, one larger than the 19-incher we have right now. He's out looking, just looking, right now. Tried to sell me on a 50-inch tv that was a "great deal" earlier today. Ummm, no. But it's fun to tease him.

Progress...

2009-11-01T16:21:00.000-08:00

We're making some major progress. Very pleased.

1) I finished painting the nursery today. It looks really nice. We chose a light green paint and off-white for the trim. Eric did a great job with the trim.

2) Dings in the walls that occurred while we were refinishing the attic are all filled and waiting to be painted.

3) Things are as clean as they've ever been on the 3rd floor.

All because...

CARPET TOMORROW!!! Hooray!!!

As I mentioned earlier, we had some people in for estimates last weekend. Against our better judgement, and that of countless of our anonymous friends on the internet, we asked Empire Carpet to come over. Estimates for both bedrooms, the nursery, both sets of back stairs and the attic ranged from $5-7K. WHAT??? Yeah, so we didn't go with them. We found some great wool carpet on sale and some frieze (friz-zay???) and we're not doing the big bedrooms for a while, so we ended up in a place where we not only got what we wanted, but will not be in the poorhouse. Pleased.

I'll be posting more pictures tomorrow. I can't wait.

In other news, property taxes came last week, and thankfully, are more than 60% less that what we paid last May. Thank goodness. THey're still too high, but it appears that Marion County is on the right track. The legislature has put tax caps into action, making sure that residential properties are taxed at 1% of assessed value. Now, this is a good thing--our current bill, which represents a phasing in of this plan, is at 1.5% of the assessment. But this will only work if assessments stay reasonable. While our assessment went down by $140K from last year to this, what's to say it's not going to go up again? I'm not sure how the treasurer can justify increasing assessments when, duh, we're in a recession and values have plummeted, but I'm sure that they will find a way.

Baby is doing well. Getting big (I am too) and practicing for a career in the martial arts. S/he is kicking HARD right now, and as I sit here with my laptop on what is left of my lap, my stomach is literally moving. I can see it move from the outside. I love it when this happens at 7:30 in the evening. Not so much at 4:00 in the morning, which has been happening lately. Apparently, all of this stuff is supposed to prepare us for when the baby actually gets here. Yikes. As of Friday, I officially enter the 3rd trimester. Yikes again!

Had chicken and dumplings for dinner. Delicious.

Back tomorrow with carpety awesomeness.

THIS is where we're putting the baby???

2009-10-19T15:32:00.001-07:00

No project that Eric takes on begins quietly. There's never a situation where the house isn't in complete disarray, that we're not constantly tripping over stray pieces of wood, that we don't find sawdust in the dryer filter... The nursery is no different. Because I am in major nesting-mode, I put very strong pressure (read: told Eric that he needed to do this NOW), and we're in progress to complete the nursery.

This room is the smallest bedroom I have ever seen. It may have been a servants quarters at one point. However, it's also the easiest room to heat and cool in the house, and while I'm no expert, I know that babies are small, and can thus infer that they don't need a lot of space.

Here is the destruction as of 6:30, Monday October 19. I am setting a goal of being completely done with this room one week from today, except for the carpet, which Eric ripped out, 100% forcing our hand in getting new carpet installed asap. We have people coming on Friday to give us an estimate.

Ahhh, plaster... About 40% of the house is still plaster, and man, is it a pain in the butt. I love the idea of things being historical and all of that, but it is SUCH A MESS. We've got a big spackling project ahead of us with this one.

Crappy windows. Downstairs, we removed the weights from the dining room and stuffed some insulation in there. Even though there doesn't appear to be the same level of draft (aka, Arctic breeze) coming through these windows, I suggested we do the same here. Eric, star of my firmament, suggested instead that we keep a 100% functioning window in the room where our child will sleep. I hate to admit I'm wrong, but in this case, I am wrong.

Finally, this is not nursery related, but has to do with one of my babies. Here is Yogi Bear enjoying the couch all to himself. He lay like that for about two hours last night. Picture of contentment, right? He's been a little gimpy lately--we think he jumped off the bed and landed wrong. He's milking his disability for all it's worth. I saw him run a little while ago when he thought I wasn't looking. But when I am looking, he's limping like crazy. Hummm. Smart doggie.

Drama, Indeed

2009-10-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

We're nearing the end of the marathon that is the "man-cave," otherwise known as the finished attic/family room/tv room/baby's playroom. Eric insists it will be his bastion of peace away from the hectic bustle of our house. Ooooh, I think different.

Anyway, it has been a long and difficult journey. Let's remember together, shall we?

Sometime last fall, probably a year ago, because I remember it was just starting to get cold and I thought we had electric heat. My family was down for a visit and I turned the thermostat on and, hilarious, cold air came out. Of course we have gas heat. And I hadn't even thought to call the gas company to come and turn it on. So, we played Trivial Pursuit while bundled up, and drank a lot. It worked out fine. Anyway, while the fam was here, the boys helped Eric destroy the attic.

This was pretty awesome, as it was a lot of work, and we got a dumpster the following week, so that pile of drywall didn't stay there for too long. The not-so-awesome part of this adventure was that at the time, we only had the one shower, which was up in the attic bathroom. So, it was a ton of fun tramping up there every morning to shower. That, plus no insulation plus no carpet plus drywall dust everywhere equals Haley's wit's end. Or so I thought.

As I mentioned earlier, the original plan for the ceiling was to just install the beadboard. But because all of the rafters were just slightly off plumb, Eric had to do this, lest we wind up with a wavy ceiling. It involved probably a month's worth of work. Copious amounts of string and furring strips, and a frustrated Eric. We were STILL using the upstairs shower at this point. And it's getting colder.

In addition to working on the ceiling, Eric also put in about a ton of loose and roll insulation in the kneewalls and ceiling. Those are his ski goggles. He found several mummified mice in the kneewalls, and actually asked me to carry them downstairs, albeit in a tupperware container. PLEASE, husband. It's like you don't know me at all.

It is at this point that the attic reached it's most disgusting point, what with the loose fill everywhere and dirt and open kneewalls and BLECH! We had acquired a space heater for the bathroom at this point, which made the showering experience much more pleasant. However, we discovered that racing from bedroom downstairs to shower upstairs in roughly 45-50 degree environment--not so much fun. So we turned the heat on upstairs. Discovered shortly thereafter that the upstairs air handler was hooked up to the box with a 30 amp breaker and 40 amp wire. The handler required 60 amps. I'm just glad we didn't burn the house down.

Probably last March, Eric got all the drywall installed. Remember that we'd spent roughly a month installing all the furring strips so the drywall wouldn't be necessary. I'm still not sure why we did this. But we did. So there you go. We had a second floor shower by this time--I stopped minding the attic situation so much then.

Eric then spent the next three months or so installing beadboard over the furring strips and drywall. He did a fantastic job, as you can see. Still, three months?

Eventually, we got everything trimmed out. As you can see, there is enough wood being used in this room to build an entirely new house. We also went through at least six containers of caulk, two containers of wood putty, half a dozen sanding blocks, and lots of blisters. That is me over in the corner. I've learned that the baby doesn't like manual labor.

After a couple weeks of priming, sanding, and painting, we're nearly finished. The walls are "Library Pewter," the same color we painted the upper wall in the half bath. That project used about an eighth of a can of paint. Want to guess how much this project used? Just over 7/8 of a gallon. So now I've got to find another project to paint Library Pewter. This project also took three gallons of Antique White high-gloss trim paint.

Next steps: cleaning up. As you can see, Eric has put all of the junk wood in the bathroom. I am not sure what we're going to do with it. Maybe a dumpster is once again in our future? Within the next month, we'll get the carpet installed and build some storm windows to cover our travesties of dormer windows (original to the house--they might as well be screens for as good as they keep the weather out... Replacing them would cost at least $6,000. So... storms it is). I have promised Eric that as soon as he finishes this room, we can get a new television, as he's currently watching all of his Boston sports on a 19-incher (ha!!! This is the way Boston sports are meant to be watched, in my opinion. Better yet, don't watch them at all).

“This post was written for Houseblogs.net as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by True Value: www.startrightstarthere.com"

Pics

2009-09-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here's the beautiful ceiling! Like the Sistene Chapel, except out of beadboard, right? I was totally right--it's taking forever to paint. This is just primer, too.

Here's another shot of the dormer. Eric built that platform, and we found some nice laminate flooring for it. He's going to put his drafting table up there.

I realized that I never posted a picture of the "finished" half bathroom. We still need to hang the mirror, but it somehow lost a hook. Excuses, excuses...

Finally, here is the Yog-man with his new haircut. He's feeling very confident. Is that a handsome puppers or what?!

It's going to look SO good, but...

2009-09-29T05:36:00.000-07:00

We are finally FINALLY painting the man-cave/finished attic. Eric did an amazing job with all of the trim and finishing work, and has ensured that the Menards on 96th St. remains in the black through the end of the fiscal year.

Digression: I've spent enough time in the big box home improvement stores over the last 18 months to fall in and out of love several times with each of them. In one post, and another post, I vowed that never again would I go to Lowes. I have broken this vow many many times over, mainly because Lowes is the closest to downtown. Each time we go, I am disappointed, but that never seems to trump the time I have to spend getting to either of the other places. The Depot is like one of those hot-and-cold boyfriends--one date, things are perfect. You're wined and dined and you leave feeling like it's the start of a beautiful relationship. And then the next date, he shows up wearing a mesh t-shirt and a confederate flag handkerchief around his head, and you're like, what the hell just happened? Menards is okay. It's a nicer looking store, and I like that they have candy prominently displayed throughout. However, their selection really isn't that great, and I haven't noticed that their prices are any better than the others. Still, it's the store of choice for the crew at #2021, at least until they do something to piss us off. Which they will.

Anyway, the story is really about beadboard. As you may remember, we decided back in, ummmm, January I think that rather than re-drywalling the ceiling of the attic after the fam helped Eric totally destroy it. We thought that, given the weight of drywall, the height of the attic ceiling, and the fact that ERic would largely be doing this work on his own, that we'd just aviod the hassle and do a beadboard ceiling. Well... We went out and purchased a small forest worth of beadboard, and Eric started putting it up. Then we discovered that none of the rafters were plumb, so Eric went out and bought another small forest worth of furring strips, and then did something with string that I really didn't understand. He made everything line up just right, and then decided to just go ahead and put up the drywall anyway, and then put the beadboard on top of the drywall. This is the story of my life. We think we're landing on a cost- and time-conscious decision, and then end up doing the work required both for that time-conscious decision AND the decision we originally rejected because it either cost too much or took too long.

You may also remember from my descriptions, or know from personal experience, that Eric is not the type to just "get the job done" (I say this with love, as I am totally the type to just get the job done--as I say, together we make up a whole regular brain) He is borderline OCD when it comes to planning, and full-on crazy when it comes to executing his plan (except when we're about 90% done--then he seems to lose interest). The new beadboard ceiling and trimwork in the attic is something to behold. It's amazing. My Big Sweetie has turned into quite a little carpenter.

The point: the beadboard ceiling and trim are spectacular, and may almost be worth the 9 months we've spent messing with this project. It's going to look SO good, but... it's going to take a heck of a long time to paint.

Pictures forthcoming...

A Possum Next Door

2009-09-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

At times, I feel very much like I am living in a dream world. Not that things aren't great. They totally are. But too often, situations arise that make me want to pinch myself. And not in a good way.

I have blogged in the past about our somewhat antagonistic relationship with our neighbors. I wish them no ill will, and I understand that a "transitional" neighborhood, by definition, will include homes that are in some state of disrepair (or, let's be honest, should be condemned). Our neighbor to the north is approximately 174 years old, appears to survive on soda, cigarettes and pot, and lives alone, though her daughter visits daily, and they have daily arguments about any variety of issues. These arguments invariably take place on the front porch. Neighbor spends the rest of her time picking up leaves, helicopter seeds, and blades of grass from her lawn--individually. While bent over at the waist and wearing a house coat. You can see the danger this poses on a windy day. The yard is so picked clean, it can grow no grass. Ahh, the irony.

Anyway, she's old, almost certainly has dementia, and in general, leaves us alone, except for the half dozen or so times she's accused us of stealing her broom or rake or porch furniture. We can handle it.

However, last week, Eric was out on the deck doing whatever he does, and heard a scratching noise. Neighbor's soffits are hanging by a thread--literally. They're vinyl, which I'm sure is a violation of the Historical Preservation Commission (one of my colleagues at work calls it the Historical Persecution Commission--ha). Eric stops what he's doing and takes a look around, and sees a possum--a huge possum--emerging from the soffit.

It's my understanding the possums are nocturnal animals. If this possum was so bold as to come out in the middle of the day while someone was making noise nearby, I can't imagine what else is brewing up there in her attic. We've seen birds, dozens of squirrels, and mice making their homes in her house. I draw the line at a possum.

So, Eric and another neighbor put out some humane traps to catch this guy. Of course, nutty neighbor to the north stole the traps. We've spoken to the daughter, who, by all accounts, should be made a saint, except for the fact that she lets her old, dementia-afflicted mother live by herself in a 4,000 square foot home that is literally falling apart. She had a concerned look on her face, but a blank look in her eyes. I doubt this will bring about any change.

My issue is whether to be an understanding neighbor, or to do what I really want to do and call the city and force them to make the fixes. I take no joy in being "that person"--anyone who lives in a historic district knows at least one person who has way too much time on his or her hands and goes around reporting people for minor issues. But in this case, I'm just going to do it.

In other news, and I know I've said this before, Eric is nearly finished with the attic. We should be able to start painting tomorrow. We're going to paint all the beadboard and trim white, and will probably do a nice sage green for the walls. Then, it's nursery time. As I mentioned our progress, or lack thereof to my mom the other day, she said, "Eric doesn't have a timebomb ticking away in his tummy." No, he doesn't, but as more and more of our time is spent either at the doctors office, on the way to the doctors office, or doing some other form of preparation for this child, I think it's starting to hit him that we don't have a lot of time to get things done. We're kicking it into high gear.

We're also taking the dogs to get groomed this week. At this point, it's an expense I really don't want to make, but it became glaringly obvious this morning as Eric hugged Yogi and came away with half a dozen clumps of hair stuck to his shirt that something has got to give. We've attempted to preserve Yogi's fragile male ego while grooming in the past and just stuck to trimming his feathers. No more. Dude is getting SHAVED. I don't care if he looks stupid.

________________________________________
Note: I'm entering a contest. Check it out: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/blog/announcing-old-house-blogger-contest/
"Love writing about home renovations as much as doing actual home renovations? Got a home improvement-related blog post or story you’re especially proud of? Enter it in the Old House Web Blogger Contest for a chance to win a $250 Lowe’s gift certificate and the opportunity to be a paid contributor to the Old House Blog.

Five finalists will be selected by our judging panel and a synopsis of their posts will be published on the OldHouseWeb blog (with links to original posts). Visitors to the OldHouseWeb.com will be able to rate and comment on the finalists. The judging panel will then select a winner based on the highest ratings and the above the criteria. The winner will be awarded $250 and an opportunity to become a paid contributing blogger on OldHouseWeb.com.“

If you like my blog and feel so inclined, go to the link above and leave a comment "voting" for me. We could use a Lowes gift card (new nursery ceiling!!!), and we certainly have enough houseblog material to last a lifetime...

Thanks to everyone!

Still lame...

2009-09-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

But trying hard not to be.

We are finally starting to make some progress again. The downstairs half-bath is finished! New pedestal sink is installed, thanks to some hard work by Big Sweetie. We anticipated a pretty easy installation, but instead (of course) had to do a bunch of plumbing, including installing a p-curve (is that what it's called?)--that thing that traps water in a curve so gas doesn't come up out of the sink? Yeah, anyway, our old sink didn't have that, which explains why every once in a while it would smell kind of funny in the bathroom. I just figured, when that happened, that I'd followed one of Eric's visits too quickly. Anyway, it looks great. We just need to hang the mirror, and maybe find a small rug for the floor.

Eric is still working hard on the attic ceiling, and despite claims that he needs yet more wood (we could build a whole new house with the amount of wood he's already used up there), I think he'll be done relatively quickly. He was even talking about painting and installing a stair rail. And fixing the steps (which are held together by the carpet and are a source of irritation for my mom--I don't blame her). Once the attic walls and ceilings are done, we're renting a dumpster and doing some major demo, including a couple ceilings, all of the grossness that is our current carpet, and all the other crap we've managed to accumulate over the last year. Then new ceilings and new carpet.

Since the "big goal" in my mind has been to get to the new carpet phase of my life, I haven't thought too far ahead in terms of what comes next. Obviously, kitchen is the elephant in the room, but we need to do some major saving for that, and it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to hold off on doing anything until we save enough for the kitchen, because it'll be a long time. So, there are a couple other options:

Finish the dining room. As you may know, this room was completely and totally gutted during our initial demo because of some water damage. We have brand new walls and a ceiling that was unfortunately sponged against our wishes, but we wanted the contractor out of our house so badly that we just dealt with it. I have since painted it a pumpkin-y color that I absolutely hate, and even worse, I did it in a semi-gloss. With our neighbor's red house reflecting light into that room, it's like freaking Kenny Roger's Roasters in there (remember from Seinfeld?). The plan is to do some alternating paint and fabric panels, separated by trim. VERY simple trim. Eric gets carried away with trim very easily. I've got something in my head for the fabric/wallpaper, but I'm not sure it exists in real life. That is one of the many reasons I'm thankful for my parents, who not only have great taste, but do this sort of thing for a living.
Refinish the floors. This would have a bigger impact on our house than nearly anything else we could do, seeing as we have wood floors throughout, except the bedrooms, and they aren't looking great at all right now. However, I'm not sure I want to do this until we're sure we're done painting for a while. And until we're sure we're not going to be moving a bunch of heavy things through the house. I suppose my choice is pretty clear huh?

Anyway, in other news, baby is doing well. I can feel him or her kicking around in there every once in a while, mainly after dinner, and especially if I've eaten something not particularly good for me, like a meatball sub. S/he went NUTS after one of those last week. I felt a very small kick on the outside last night, but Eric hasn't caught one yet, and I think he's growing dejected. It's still a bit early, so I suppose he can just wait it out. I am officially, as of tomorrow, halfway through. That is nothing short of weird for me. I feel like I just found out myself. Now, all of a sudden, I'm massive, fully into maternity clothes (except for empire waist dresses and some skirts--thank goodness for the Bella Band) and January doesn't seem so far away anymore...

Heading up north this weekend to visit the fam, and Abby is throwing me a shower, which should be great. I always look forward to being in Roscommon. I wish someone would invent a teleportation device so I could LIVE there and WORK here. That would be awesome. Teleportation would totally be my superpower if I could pick one.

I'm not as lame as this blog makes me appear...

2009-08-27T09:15:00.001-07:00

In real life, I follow through with things. I get in touch with friends regularly. I talk to my mom nearly every day. Why can't I get it together to post more often? There's no excuse. I haven't even been that busy. It's similar to my attitude towards the grocery store--I know I should, and once I get there sometimes I even enjoy myself. But I still find reasons not to.

Anyway, everything's good around here. Saw the baby on the ultrasound this week. S/he looks like an angry little alien. Seriously. So angry that I almost didn't hang the pictures on the fridge.

House projects have stalled, but will pick up again this weekend. We went out and got a new pedestal sink for the half bath that matches the trim color. We'll also will eventually buy a new toilet in a lovely "biscuit" color, but that's eventually. We got a nice new light fixture, TP holder, faucet and towel rack, too. Wahoo!

Eric WILL finish the attic ceiling sometime within the next 10 days. I'm hoping he's reading this.

At that point, we'll soldier ahead with the ceilings in the guest bedroom (somewhat ruined by rain from a freak storm that blew through here several weeks ago and demonstrated a previously unknown gap between the window and wall...) and the baby's room. Instead of drywall, we're going to go with the decorative ceiling panels, which should be much cheaper and MUCH easier to install by ourselves. Plus, it'll look great. Eventually, we're tearing out all of the ceilings in this house, which for some reason are all sponged plaster. They must have been replaced in the 80s. Ugh.

In other news, Marion County has released its 2008 home assessments, which will be the basis of our upcoming property tax bills (due October and April/May). Here's the situation... Marion County is a ridiculous place, and is in the process of catching up on several back years of property taxes. Our first year in the house, we did not pay property taxes. The bank paid them, because we bought as a foreclosure and as a closing contingency, we did not want to pay taxes for a year in which we didn't live in/own the home. Immediately upon moving here, we filed for our homestead and mortgage exemptions, and filed for an assessment appeal. And were told that that appeal will take at least 18 months. Ahem... So our assessment for this last property tax bill that we had to pay in July, for our house that we bought for $139,900, was $360,000. WHAT!!????!!! Plus no exemptions because it's the first year, plus no appeal... Let's just say that this little bill put our kitchen plans on the back burner for at least six months.

Anyway, the good news is that our assessment has been revised down to $219K--still more than what the house is worth, but a more reasonable figure--our exemptions are kicking in, and the property tax caps that the legislature has been talking about for such a long time are finally working. We should not get completely and utterly screwed once again. PHEW!!! I don't mind paying taxes. In fact, when I notice my nice newly paved sidewalks, functioning sewer system, and running water, I'm happy for them. However, sometimes things just don't work. This past bill was one of those times.

I am very much looking forward to a visit from my darling Ashie and her sidekick/doggie Banjo. They're coming down this weekend from Chicago. We're planning a very low-key weekend that should involve a lot of dog walking, going to Target, eating, and, as always happens when we're in close proximity, giggling. Ash and I worked together at ANF in Boston, and shared an office. We got a ton of work done, but I tell you, if you'd put two less intrisically-motivated people with lots in common and a shared love of singing Chicago songs to each other in the same office, the results would not be the same. She's my special girl, and I can't wait!

Peace...

I MUST HAVE...

2009-08-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Rice Krispie Treats!!! Now!!!!!!

This is one of the best and worst things about being pregnant. When I know what I want, I REALLY want it and feel justified in eating it (because the baby told me so). But I also feel as though I must MUST have it, creating drama when I can't have it. And often, by the time I get it, I don't want it anymore (evidence: the three containers of cottage cheese in my refrigerator).

I've had such a weird relationship with food these last several months. Couldn't stand to see it, smell it, let alone eat it for the first 12 weeks. I survived on Claussen pickles, saltine crackers, and copious Freezer Pops. I also went through a brief love affair with rotisserie chicken. I was at the grocery store, smelled it, bought it, and fell upon it ravenously when I got home. I did the same thing the following day, got it home and couldn't even look at it. Same thing with cole slaw a couple times, and potato salad. Anyway, I'm past that now, and eating whatever I can get my hands on except for meat.

So, in the immortal words of Westley from The Princess Bride, it appears as though we are at an impasse. I have no Rice Krispie Treats, or means to make or get them for quite a while. It will also require that I stop at the store, and invest the money and time to get the materials and make the Treats. Will I still want them? That is a chance I think I'm willing to take.

In other pregnancy news, I may be feeling the first little flutters--quickening, if you will. There is definitely something going on down there. Either this kid is going to be a sprinter or I'm responding poorly to the pound of salad I ate for lunch (still hungry). Whichever it is, it's made for an interesting afternoon.

I love Sunday mornings

2009-08-09T05:56:00.000-07:00

Especially ones like today. I got up way too early for a weekend, around 6:30, because the Pix apparently REALLY had to go. I don't begrudge her. I had to go, too... for the sixth time in 8 hours. Ugh. I'm up drinking a cup of coffee, my first in months, watching Ratatouille, enjoying puppy cuddles. Good stuff.

It's a lovely day. A little hot for my taste, but nice. The sun coming through the windows is doing a great job in highlighting all the dust on the woodwork and incredibly dirty windows. I should get down to that at some point, I suppose.

Spent a good portion of yesterday painting the bathroom. For the smallest room in the house, it's taking a heck of a long time. I did all the trim yesterday. As soon as I finish, we'll go get the new light fixture and vanity. Sold the old pedestal sink yesterday.

We also went grocery shopping at the Fresh Market yesterday, which is always fun. Eric saw a sign for steaks on sale, and felt compelled. They were a great deal, actually, so he's in meat for the foreseeable future.

Recent Activities: Excuses for Not Posting

2009-08-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

In non-house related news, let's just say that things have been rather wild and crazy lately.

This is probably the biggest news I've ever delivered... We're having a baby! For the first three months, the only thing I could think was "holy crap." Now, I'm still thinking that, but I'm also noticing how many sharp corners are exposed in this house, power tools that are sitting on the floor... Not cool. We'll be kicking it into high gear over the next 6 or 7 months, for sure.

The experience so far has been interesting. I guess I never thought about what being pregnant would be like--maybe I thought it would be like normal, except with a baby. Well, it's not normal. I think it's very weird.

But overall, it's been a relatively painless time. I didn't throw up a bunch at the start--maybe half a dozen times--but I was nauseous ALL THE TIME. And I couldn't eat anything except for a piece of fruit every once in a while and those Icy Pop popsicles, which still are the most delicious thing in the world. The worst experience, though, happened in mid-June. I'd just hit week 7, and had to go out to Denver for a conference. The nausea and sickness hit like a ton of bricks, and I couldn't control anything--what I ate, when I ate, how close I was to a bathroom, etc. Miserable. I was supposed to fly out from Denver to Chicago Midway for another meeting in Hammond, Indiana, starting at 6:00. Well, the flight was delayed for 6 hours. SIX HOURS! I didn't get into Chicago till 10:30. I hopped into a cab and told the guy I needed to go to Hammond, which is located on I-80, exit 3. I could have found it myself. Well, he typed it into his GPS, and we ended up taking a lovely tour of South Chicago at midnight. He was a terrible driver, too, so we're all over the road, jerking around, etc. etc. You know what's coming. I ended up puking in the cab. Thankfully, I'd stolen a barf bag from the plane.

Anyway, things are better now. My appetite is back. I can't eat much, but at least I want to eat. Discovered in a meeting yesterday that things aren't pretty if I wait too long. I was ready for lunch around 11:45, but people kept talking and talking until 12:30. Finally, I jumped in and said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but for the sake of time, let's eat lunch." And then raced out the door to get a sandwich.

So, that's our big news. Exciting, weird, scary all at once!

Recent Activities: Pictures

2009-08-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

Like I said, it's been a while. We haven't had time to get too much done, but we're making progress, I suppose.

First, Eric realized a long-time dream of his: to be the proud owner of a grill. He's using this opportunity to eat as many hamburgers, brats, and steaks as his tummy will allow.

After the deck construction project, the yard around it was pretty much ravaged, so we figured we'd put in some planting areas. Our lovely neighbors Ryan and Laurin had a big pile of great old bricks that they were willing to donate to the cause. These are old school bricks--huge, glazed, with raised printing indicating that they were fired in Brazil, Indiana. Super cool. Our plants are doing okay, particularly the ones with the pink flowers. I'm hoping that next summer is when they really take off.

The deck, while functioning, is nowhere close to finished, mainly because Eric has decided to make it into an architectural wonder. As you can see, the completed side on the right is great looking. However, we have to extend that all the way around. It may well be next summer before it actually gets done. I am okay with this.

One area where we have made some progress is the downstairs half bath. Now that I reflect, I'm not sure why I had such a bee in my bonnet about getting it trimmed out, other than Eric had already purchased the wood and it was sitting in the dining room. Anyway, I primed everything this morning, and we'll be ready to paint in a bit. We're using a lovely Sherwin-Williams approved color scheme, and I'm pretty excited about how it's going to turn out.

Overall, this summer has been absolutely wonderful. We haven't turned the AC on since June, it's been so nice and cool. Despite that, our tomato plant is flourishing. We have 5 or 6 tomatoes getting ready to ripen!

Finally, our puppies continue to entertain us. Eric is realizing slowly that he is not the boss.

I know, I know...

2009-07-31T12:46:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time. The good news is that we have some really great excuses for not updating. Pictures and info tomorrow!

Like sands through the hourglass...

2009-07-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

So are the days of my life. They're slipping past. Honestly, I can vividly remember the last time I posted, and it doesn't feel like it was 2 weeks ago. What the hell?

Rest assured that virtually no progress has been made on the house in those two weeks, with the exception of some woodwork on the deck--pillars, railing, etc. I am very much enjoying the deck, but I am starting to resent the amount of Eric's time that it is taking. After all, I don't live on the deck--I live in a master suite without a toilet or a shower. And dammit, it's supposed to be sunny and nice all week, so no forced inside days either. Phooey.

Anyway, despite the lack of progress, we are gearing up for some big projects, the largest being new carpet for all of the bedrooms and the upstairs attic. I can't wait. It will be nice to lay down on the carpet with the puppies and not feel repulsed. Yogi is a shedding fool, and is loosing hair in clumps, while the Pix just lays down a fine layer of black hair wherever she goes. The combination is lethal. We picked up an entire vaccum cleaner canister just from an 8x10 rug the other day. And we'd just swept the day before. Disgusting.

Pix and I just got back from a lovely weekend in Northern Michigan. It was a bit chilly, so there was no beach or swimming--just as well, as every crazy person in Michigan descended upon Higgins Lake with their firecrackers, flag t-shirts, and mullets. I don't want to sound like a snob, but Dad and I went to the grocery store, and we just looked at each other with wide eyes. Got to the car, and we said, "Who are these people and what are they doing in my town?" It's like an up-north version of the 500 festival. Yikes.

Meanwhile, work is nuts, but that is a good thing. A state budget passed at the last minute means no mandatory unpaid vacation for Haley. Wahoo! I'm all about the vacation, but not so much with the unpaid part. I've got property taxes to pay...

Hot Hot Hot!

2009-06-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

The name of one of my favorite Cure songs, and the state of the state right now. Darn, it's boiling out there. Thankfully, we have procured a window unit AC for the master bedroom... Here's a story for you.

So, when it started getting cold and we finally turned the heat on, we started wondering why in the world it didn't get warm in the master bedroom. We're cool with this--we like it cold when we sleep. However, given that there's a vent in the master, we had, reasonably I thought, expected that heat and cool would flow out of it. Well, we were wrong. I discovered that someone had gone to the trouble of cutting a hole in the floor of the master bedroom, and indeed, it is just a hole. It leads into nothingness. So, anyway, we brought a guy in to see what it would cost to fix it, and it's not a terrible price, relatively speaking of course, but we just haven't gotten around to it with all of the other stuff we've got going on around here. So, yes. The window unit is WONDERFUL. The puppies are enjoying it, as well. Yogi was a little suspicious at first. And by suspicious, I mean when we turned it on, he high-tailed it out of the room and wouldn't come back for a while. But he's come around. They enjoy laying on their backs in front of the breeze, letting it cool their tummies and nether regions. Smart doggies!

Meanwhile, Eric is making major progress on the deck and backyard. Our planters are fully in and the plants are in the ground. Looks great. Our neighbor had a huge stack of old bricks he was looking to unload. These are great old bricks--the huge, glazed kind with the raised letters. So we used those for lining the planting areas. He's also doing something with the posts. I can't really describe it because I don't "see" it yet, but I'm sure it'll look good. All I know is that there's more wood being used on that deck than in the rest of the house combined.

Next project up is the master bathroom. We've already got the tile for the floor and shower walls, so we just need to get the accent tiles. We've picked it out already--glass mosaic with gray, orange, and green. I think it'll look great. I'm hoping we get this finished sometime within the next month or so.

My tomato plant is growing like nuts. It's HUGE! It's already got blossoms, even though the plant description said it wouldn't produce fruit for 60 days. Apparently, the plant description people underestimated the power of Indiana summer.

Pictures soon... Peace.

Not an ideal situation...

2009-06-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Since Monday afternoon, I have been in Denver for a conference. Ann picked me up from the airport and we had a delightful dinner with her husband, Jon, and their darling toddler, Narelle. It was just wonderful, because I last met Narelle when she was but a fetus. Between Monday evening and right now, I have been outside once, and that was just to get on the shuttle to the airport. The conference was great, but 9-10 hours a day of substance, plus receptions, well, it gets exhausting.

Anyway, I made it to the airport with time to spare in order to make my 1:30 scheduled flight to Chicago, which I'd arranged in order to make a Commission meeting this evening in Gary, and get a good night's sleep before tomorrow's big Commission meeting. Well, as of right now, my plane is scheduled to take off not at 1:30, but at 7:15, getting me into Chicago at roughly 11:30. Then I have to rent a car and drive to Gary, maybe sleep for 6 hours, and then drive back to Indy tomorrow afternoon.

I know that I can make it. I have to make it--there are no other options for getting the hell out of here. But it's going to suck.

We're still alive...

2009-06-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Just barely. It's been nothing short of ridiculous around here. Busy! But full of progress. We are no longer jumping three feet down from the back door. Our hanging baskets no longer depress us and our neighbors. We actually have plants in the ground. All good things.

So, our weekend began on Friday afternoon, when my parents arrived from Michigan. Their trip down was very adventurous. They hit a deer going about 50 on the highway. Thankfully dad was able to slow down, and the deer bounced off the car instead of into the car. The irony is that they had just had the front grill of the car replaced last week. These things happen, I suppose.

We began work on the deck on Saturday morning. Last week, Eric had successfully sunk the posts and started on the main floor support for the deck. I am convinced that this is the most solidly constructed feature of our house. A tornado comes through and destroy the house? The deck will remain. The puppies helped supervise the work. Pixie is quite the taskmaster.

Dad and Eric doing something with the floor joyce.

This was one of approximately 3 minutes of the day where Eric was in a good mood.

Sunday, they started with the actual floor. Made tremendous progress.

Dad was still able to fit in some quality time with his girl, Madison. That dog is in love with my dad. And he with her. They are quite a pair.

While Dad and Eric were busy with the deck, Mom and I occupied ourselves by prettying things. First order of business was replacing the pansies in the hanging baskets which all simultaneously decided to die. I don't know what happened. Anyway, we found some beautiful begonias and some little creeping white flowers. I'm pleased. They look so nice against the house. Now, if only I could get Eric to get the drywall off the front porch...

About 5 weeks ago, I planted a little rose bush--one of those that you buy for $6 at Home Depot that's basically just a root bulb and some stems. Well, one of the bushes has done nothing, but the other has just thrived. We got our first roses early this week! Now, I would like to uproot the entire front yard and just make a wild rose garden. Eric says no.

For the backyard, we got some rhododendron bushes, Sweet William, and some peonies, donated to the effort by our neighbors who don't get enough sun for them to grow. So far, the peonies are struggling a bit--they're traumatized by the move--but the others are doing great, and we even have some blooms on the Sweet William.

Finally, we got a tomato plant starter. Mom will appreciate this. When we planted this on Sunday afternoon, it went halfway up to the first ring of the tomato cage. In 5 days, it has doubled in size. I expect many delicious tomatoes this summer. You can all come over for a nice Caprese salad in August.

Still no deck...

2009-05-25T04:53:00.000-07:00

It's definitely not an ideal situation. Our back door is located about three feet from the ground, and without a deck, that is a long trip down for the puppies, who sometimes forget that there's no deck.

Eric and cousin Matt spent a tremendous amount of time this weekend preparing for the deck. This included doing something with string that took a really long time. I asked Eric what he was doing with the string, and he started to explain to me, but I lost interest.

Here are Eric and Matt digging post holes.

And here is our future deck, stacked in the backyard. Funny--it felt like more when we moved it into the yard, piece by piece, on an 85 degree night...

In other news, we're enjoying a nice day off. I will likely try to get some work done today, particularly if it's raining, but I generally enjoy a day where, even if I do work, I don't HAVE to work. We're going up to the northside in a while to look at a couple antique chairs that we may purchase. That will be fun.

So far this spring, I've been bitten by no fewer than 15 mosquitos (or multiple bites by the same mosquito). This is perplexing to me, as Eric has no bites and he was outside all weekend. I also have a mystery rash on my left elbow, which is making me crazy. I'm up at 7:00 on my day off. I'm falling apart.

Remember the fence I keep going on about? Here is visual evidence of its disgustingness. This is just one example. Another would include the far section of fence, which is apparently not held into the ground with anything and is leaning quite significantly. Eric is hesitant to take down the fence without a replacement. I say, I could TOUCH that fence and it would dissolve at my fingertips. This thing is not providing us with any additional security.

So, we're going to replace it. The retaining wall of our dreams is just not going to happen this year (or next), so we'll put up another fence, and and arbor over the steps up to the house. I think that will look nice. Hell, it will have to look nicer than this.

Reflections...

2009-05-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is our one-year anniversary of owning our house. This blows my mind. We didn't move in till July, but effectively, as of one year ago, our thoughts, marriage, and basically our entire lives became consumed with the house and all of its aspects--being broke all the time, living in squalor, worrying about when we're going to have a kitchen, finally getting over the fact that our dishwasher is in a box in the dining room... It's all good. We're pretty happy here.

To put things in perspective, here's what we've done in the last 12 months:

Removed approximately 250 linear feet of trim (which is still on the floor)
Removed nails from 250 linear feet of trim
Ripped plaster lathe and insulation from two rooms
Insulated and drywalled two rooms
Scrubbed drywall off of floors in kitchen, living room, dining room, foyer and upstairs hallway after contractors didn't put down a dropcloth
Fixed 9 splits in copper piping
Got a new water heater
Removed tub, vanity and shower stall from guest and master bathrooms
Build the frame for new shower stalls in guest and master bathrooms
Painted the kitchen, dining room, living room, foyer (twice), hallway with 25 foot ceilings, master bath (twice), master bedroom (twice), guest bedroom, guest bathroom, third bedroom (twice), bookshelves, fence (now decrepit)
Tiled, trimmed guest bathroom, and made a new shower
Removed carpet and ceiling from the attic
Replaced the ceiling with awesome beadboard
Insulated the entire attic space
Built a fence around the backyard
Built a stoop, soon to be replaced by a real deck
Replaced the roof
Replaced all the rotten siding around the house
Painted the house

I'm forgetting stuff, too. This makes me feel very productive and good about myself. I should do this more often.

Bathroom Tile and Garage Sales

2009-05-16T15:14:00.000-07:00

So sleepy... We have been busy little bees today. At least I feel like I've been busy. But it evens out--I work longer, but take more breaks, while Eric works a shorter time, but takes no breaks and is actually productive, whereas I just move stuff around and use a lot of furniture polish. It seems to work out okay for us.

Today, I woke up early, before the puppies even. It wasn't necessarily intentional, but was a bonus because our neighborhood had a garage sale today. Generally, I don't "do" garage sales. I think it stems from a garage sale I was in on when I lived in Santa Fe, which wasn't fun. Anyway, I decided to head back out today to see what's up. I stopped first at our lovely neighbors Tom and Ed's house. I've been in their house. It is amazing and they have perfect taste. I found a lovely blue wedgewood vase and a candy dish in the same pattern. Then I headed down the street to one of the larger houses in our neighborhood. Seriously, this place is at least 6,000 square feet. I've not been inside it, but it's on the puppies' walk route, so I gaze at it daily. There, I found a nice inside tree and an old sewing machine that I'm going to use as a table up in the hallway. It has seen better days. I just cleaned it all up. Then up the street, where I hit the mother load. I found a rocking chair, a low extra chair for the living room, and a tallboy for the bottom of the stairs. WHOO! I just have to find a lamp for that, and we'll be good to go.

I was done by about 9:00, so came back and had some coffee, and then Eric and I headed up to the northside to look at some tile for the master bathroom. We've been keeping our eyes on Craigslist, because you can really find some great deals on there. I was about 2 hours late for a bid on 300 square feet of Daltile glass mosaic for $100. Could've kicked myself... Anyway, we saw an ad for a sale at the warehouse where we stop occasionally to look around, and guess what we found!

I don't think you can see it very well in this picture, but this is a polished porcelain--kind of shiny. I've been pricing this stuff for ages, and I think we got a pretty good deal. $2.29 a square foot? Had been at least $7. I'm pleased. Now we just have to rip out the tile and vanity that are in the master bath now. Eric is also going to bump the master closet into the bathroom space. I am thinking that this tile will likely be on our front porch through the end of summer, enhancing our trash-ness. However, we can't just bring it all inside and put it in the bathroom, because I seriously think it would crash through the floor. We've got 26 boxes and each box weighs at least 30 pounds... I'd rather not tempt fate.

Eric is still working on the ceiling in the attic. It's coming along, but he has a lot of trimming to do, and some drywall patching to work on, too. He wants to finish it before it gets too hot, as even though the venting we've done will help, on a hot day it's like Hades up there.

Meanwhile, the puppies are being good and staying out of the way. Pixie sits like this on the couch all the time, making sure she doesn't miss anything, while Yogi just seeks comfort.

Progress...

2009-05-14T16:52:00.000-07:00

We had a doozy of a storm last night that left branches everywhere (except on my car! Hooray!!!) and tulips from our tulip tree scattered across the neighborhood. It's a mess.

Eric is upstairs cutting and nailing away at the ceiling, which is taking roughly 900% longer than we anticipated.

And here's spring at #2021. Notice the painted foundation. It's about half done. I couldn't bend over anymore.

We're getting rid of that shrub.

Optimus Prime

2009-05-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

That's right--I was, truly, a machine this morning, as I primed the foundation in preparation for a coat of nice brick red paint. While the tuck pointing was a rousing success, we discovered that the foundation uses several different kinds of bricks, as we went around inspecting. So we're just painting the brick to match the chimney and I think it'll look great. The primer has to set for 24 hours, so we'll put the color on tomorrow. I can't wait--this really looks like crap right now.

In the back, we're having mixed success in growing our grass. I seeded the hell out of the bald spots this morning. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I also primed our rain barrel.

Meanwhile, Eric is making real progress on the attic ceiling. See the before and after.

Tucking Points

2009-05-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

I'm still not convinced that I couldn't have done the tuckpointing myself, but I have to admit, it looks really good. And it only took a day!

Before:

After:

Sweet. We've got to seal it up, which we'll probably do this weekend, and then we'll paint it the same copper red as we painted the chimney. It will look great. Then it's deck-building time...

Two years and counting...

2009-05-05T05:35:00.000-07:00

Today is our second anniversary. Yes, I've ruined Cinco de Mayo for Eric forever--and this was one "holiday" that he really enjoyed. He and several of his ne'erdowell friends would go up to New Hampshire for a celebration, dressed in madras shorts and polo shirts emblazoned with "Team Cinco," returning the next day looking 10 years older, smelling of beer and meat, and reluctant to share any stories. Ah well--this is worth it, right?

We generally don't do much for events like this. Last year, Eric bought me a chili dog. I may have brought him a coffee. This year, we'll continue the tradition. It will have to be cheap, as the contractors are at the house today working on the tuckpointing, so we can't afford much more than coffee and chili dogs anyway. I like to think that we're giving ourselves a present every day with the house... A crappy present that no one wants, but a present nonetheless.

This is my favorite wedding picture--it nearly perfectly captures the mood of that lovely night; namely, we were all crazy happy, riled up, and a little tipsy. Here's to two years, Big Sweetie, and to many more...

2009-05-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

I feel like we were productive this weekend, but I cannot remember a single project that we started OR finished. Yet, I'm tired. We must have done something.

Seeing as I can't remember yesterday, I just asked Eric. He reminded me that he went to a historic window refinishing seminar, and is now convinced that he can fix all of our crap-ass 100 year old windows, and perhaps reduce our ridiculous heating bills in the winter. This is quite a change--last week, he was convinced that we needed to contract this project, and got an estimate for $12,000 to refinish 13 windows. Ummm, no. That was not going to happen. However, I'm still not sure I want him to do this project either, because if he screws up, that's a $800+ mistake. It's not like we can go without a window... Despite evidence surrounding us to the contrary. Our across the street neighbor's house is reaching new heights of decrepitness, what with the plywood windows, sheets hanging askew as curtains, etc. They actually live there, though apparently on only the first floor. It confuses me, but they're not social, so I've never had a chance to get acquainted and ask mildly inappropriate questions.

We also went to a Derby party, held by an old friend who lives down the road. Lovely time. I had my first Mint Julep. I enjoy mint, sugar, AND bourbon, but together, they are disgusting. I added 7-up and had a delightful 7&7 instead.

Today, we spent some time planning out the landscaping in the front and backyard. I am more concerned about the front yard, as it is the worst looking of the two. Eric is more concerned about the backyard, as it offers the most opportunity for destruction and cost per square foot. He pursues the cheap projects with little to no enthusiasm, and the expensive ones with gusto. Anyway, we've got a working plan for the backyard, and no idea what to do about the front. The front yard is tough. We're up from the road about 5 feet, and we don't have a retaining wall. So, right now our yard is being held in to a large extent by the disgusting and rotting white picket fence, which is the only white picket fence in the entire neighborhood. Anyway, I want to remove this fence and just see what happens, and Eric wants to keep it in place till we can replace it with something. We are at an impasse. Thus, no plan for the front yard. We are agreed, however, that the copious evergreen hedges in the yard will be reduced and replaced with something with flowers.

When we got home, we took the puppies for a walk, and ran into a half dozen of our wonderful neighbors. Our neighbors make the relative squalor in which we live worth it.

Non-House-Related Content

2009-05-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

I just watched this 5 times in a row. This stuff makes me happy.

Pictures

2009-04-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

So, I think the biggest news around here is that the bathroom, dare I say, is finished! Wahoo!!!

Here's the new foyer wall color, which is still awaiting a second coat of paint... grrrr... Also, notice the new coatrack. This thing is at least 90 years old, and under a thick layer of grime, may be copper, or at least have a copper finish. I did some stripping and sanding up near the top, where that sheen is showing through. Pleased.

These are the rugs that inspired the new paint color. The one on the right will look so good in the foyer! The orange one is going in the living room.

In neighborhood news, our neighbor Mark painted his house a vibrant red. It's AMAZING! These are just his front pillars. It's changed the light in here, though, and isn't really working with the orange in the dining room. Which is fine, because the finish is wrong in there anyway.

Finally, my aunt made copies of some old pictures. Here's my grandma and grandpa on their wedding day. I love this picture, and I love having it framed and in a prominent place, so I can see their faces every day.

Reminding myself why I like my house...

2009-04-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

These two pictures say a lot about why we bought this place. I got out the Liquid Gold polish and went to town, and here's the result.

I feel like I have been painting forever...

2009-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

So, next time we decide to paint the foyer (and we will--this is color #3), we will not start at 6:00 on Sunday evening. I just finished, and I'm beat and dirty and need to go to bed.

I will get around to the painting story.

We spent the vast majority of yesterday doing a neighborhood clean-up, which entailed picking up trash in the allies (gross!), shoveling all the debris that gathered along the gutters in the streets, planting, sweeping, etc. It was also a beautiful day, so we got a little sun--it got up to about 85 both yesterday and today. We spent both evenings in the company of our delightful neighbors, Scott, Scott, Tom, Ed, Bob and Mark. They are hilarious and kind and we feel very lucky to have them just down the street.

Yesterday, Pixie ate my phone. She's chewed on Eric's before, but it still worked, so we held off on getting new ones. But this little snack totally destroyed mine, so we went up and got new phones. I wouldn't let Eric get a touchscreen/internet phone. He pouted a little but got over it.

We had a giftcard for Pottery Barn that we needed to use, so we went up there to look around. Pottery Barn has nice stuff, but it's SO expensive! I just can't justify spending $20 on a candle, no matter how good it smells. Anyway, we ended up finding two rugs that were being discontinued and were therefore about 70% off, plus the giftcard, so we got about $800 worth of rugs for less than $200. Sweet.

However, the rug we picked out for the foyer didn't match the mauve walls, which I haven't been crazy about anyway, so we picked up some nice coffee-with-milk colored paint and went to town. Hence the late-night paint fest. It looks good, and I'm pleased. The funny thing is, though, the foyer has been three different colors, and what we put up on the walls today is pretty much exactly what was up when we bought the house. Nice.

Backyard Hijinx

2009-04-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

So, even though we have a very small backyard that is daily, nay HOURLY, defiled by two doggies with toxic pee, we moved ahead in realizing Eric's dream of a lush green lawn.

Step One: Rent a roto-tiller built for farmland. Destroy yard.

Step Two: Survey destruction. Pray that it doesn't rain.

Step Three: Seed, fertilize and spread hay. Install Eric-Scarecrow.

Step Four: Get puppies' opinion. Yogi thinks it's awesome. Pixie is not so sure.

I also planted some flowers and mulched the flower beds in the front yard. It was a long, dirty day. It was beautiful outside, though. Perfect, really.

But I am grateful that it's raining right now, if only because we need to get some work done inside. Today, I am hoping that Eric will finally FINISH the guest bathroom. We just need to paint the ceiling, do a little wall touch-up, and install the final touches: robe hooks, towel racks, shelves, TP roll, etc. And then, we will have a TOTALLY FINISHED ROOM! But then again, knowing us, it will take at least another month to get all this done, at which point we'll need to rip out a portion of drywall or something. While he's doing that, I'm going to dust, move the furniture around, wash/polish the floors, and maybe hang some pictures.

What the HECK???

2009-04-16T18:08:00.001-07:00

Eric had several contractors in today to talk about some tuckpointing for the corners of the house. One left a quote.

Are you ready?

$1,500. What the HELL!!??

To me, tuckpointing is just putting some bricks into existing places in the foundation walls/corners where they have fallen out. I feel like, if given the appropriate materials: cement, bricks, and, say, 4 glasses of wine, I could do this myself.

DIYers, let me know. Is there any reason why I should pay some dude two months of mortgage for this?? If we do it ourselves, will we knock the house down?

In other news, I got home at 8:30 tonight. From work. It was quite a day. I gave a rousing presentation at College Cooperative Southeast, quite possibly the nicest group of people ever assembled in one room, and very receptive to our message. I met the woman who wrote the Rocky movies, as she was there to give a talk--that was a nice bonus. I had to leave before her talk, though. Saw some old friends from Scottsburg, too. All in all, an excellent morning. Then I had meetings all afternoon till 6:00, and then went back to the office to follow up. I'm feeling like a very responsible employee. I do love my job. This sort of stuff, while it makes me tired, makes me happy too.

We had Subway for dinner. Bad Haley!!! But seriously, it was that or cereal, because I was NOT cooking tonight.

This weekend, we have absolutely nothing on the agenda and it's supposed to be lovely outside. I'm hoping to get some work done on the front lawn, which is flowered, but still derelict.

Ugh...

2009-04-15T17:34:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that I haven't updated lately, we've actually gotten quite a bit done around here. But first...

Work is going well. I'm working on a project that is getting mad press, which is nice, but unfortunately the press has, invariably, mischaracterized the project. I've been quoted in the paper, which is nice, but misquoted... Sigh.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904130346

We spent a lovely long weekend up in Michigan with the fam. I REALLY enjoy going up north, and the puppies were very unhappy to leave, too. Pixie and her cousin Maddie bonded over a shared love of chasing things, and Yogi just loves to be outside, though we can't let him off his leash because he's a runner. We tied him to a tree on a long piece of rope and he was convinced that he couldn't move. Anyway, we had a good time till Saturday night, when my sister got violently ill. Thankfully, Eric and I have dodged that bullet, though I've spent the last 3 days feeling psychosomatically sick. Thanks, mom and dad, for a lovely weekend.

In me-personal news, I have been CRAZY tired lately. I wasn't feeling well yesterday at work, came home and immediately lay down on the couch, slept for 2 hours, and then went to sleep at 9:00 and slept till 6:45. I must need it, but it's causing me a bit of concern. I've also been a bit of a space cadet lately. I'm looking forward to the weekend. Need to de-stress, as well. I've never been one to get really stressed out, but this week is pushing it. I carry it all in my shoulders, which I hunch up around my ears and don't realize it, and then wonder why my back hurts and why I'm lurching around like Frankenstein.

Moving on... House news. In the last couple weeks, we've finished a couple semi-major projects, none of which actually improve the way my house LOOKS, but I suppose they were necessary.

We encapsulated the crawl space. Now, the crawl space is a place in this house where I've never been and, truly, I never intend to go. Apparently, it was filled with old junk, like iron pipes, ductwork, and (CREEPY!) a mummified cat. So, the guys cleaned that out, sprayed a mold-inhibitor (didn't have mold, but it's nice to protect against it), and then laid what is essentially a really thick layer of plastic throughout the whole space. Now that that's done, we'll have to clean out the regular basement. Dad thinks it's got great potential as a man-cave, and my cousin has expressed that it might made a good wine cellar. I think it looks like something from Silence of the Lambs and I hate it. So we're going to clean it and paint it white, and while I will still not go down there, I will at least know that it's not spooky anymore.

We had the electrician in. Phew! As I noted in an earlier post, Eric and cousin Matt are no longer allowed to do anything related to electricity, as they successfully installed a vanity light but, in doing so, removed the power source to the washing machine. So, the electrician fixed that, and took care of an issue with the attic air handler. As I understand it, the handler required 60 amps, but was hooked up to the panel with a 40 amp breaker, with 30 amp wire. What?? Anyway, that's fixed.

We're having a guy in to look at doing some tuck pointing and chimney inspection tomorrow. Eric's got his little heart set on doing gas inserts for the fireplaces. I understand this, but kind of hope that we can do the projects we actually NEED before we worry about this. He also brought in a guy to look at window refurbishing today. In our historic neighborhood, we're basically not allowed to change the windows. Apparently, ours are in decent shape, and could be restored relatively easily. There are 7 windows we're targeting right now. Not sure if we'll be able to do that, given the price, but we'll have to do it at some point, and get storm windows.

It's time for Lost... We'll be back with pictures of puppies and projects soon.

If Only He'd Played Suedehead

2009-04-09T05:47:00.000-07:00

I saw Morrissey the other night with my dearest, Ashie. It was somewhat amazing, if only because I was really close to him. The concert, while entertaining, was held in a distractingly hot venue and while he put on a hell of a show, as always, it's dawning on me that Morrissey really believes his own hype. See these articles for some insight.
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2009/04/concert-review-morrissey-at-the-aragon.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2215516/

Anyway, it's been a busy couple weeks. I mentioned the concert--this was sandwiched between a raucous night unlike any I've had in QUITE a while, and a conference that, while interesting and ultimately productive, totally wore me out. It's good to be home.

Speaking of home, we head up to Michigan tomorrow to see the fam. Can't wait. It promises to be a delightful weekend, with the 6 of us all together for the second time in a year (unprecedented) and 4 dogs. Yogi and The Pix got a groom the other day, so they're ready to see Grandma and Grandpa, and hopefully will not leave too much black fur all over their furniture.

Lazy Sunday, v2

2009-03-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

Big plans today...

We're going up to the northside in a bit to get some breakfast (I have a free breakfast card at LePeep!) and to get Eric some new tennis shoes. Yesterday, I went shopping for clothes for the first time since moving here in July, and when I left, I asked Eric if he needed anything, thinking he'd say something like, "A pack of t-shirts" or something like that. No, he says, "I need some new tennis shoes. Any color except white." What?? I think shoes are an extremely personal choice.

The clothes shopping yesterday... Necessary, but I didn't have a good time. I used to love going shopping, even if I wasn't going to get anything. Yesterday, I HAD to get something (seriously, the wardrobe situation is a little dire right now), and I dragged myself to the mall like I was going to the dentist. Once there, though, I got some cute stuff, including a VERY cute black kick-pleated skirt. It will be nice to be excited about getting dressed again. Also, the mall was packed. Screaming children everywhere. This is normally something I dread, but perhaps this means our national freak-out is winding down? God, I hope so.

I finished painting in the bathroom yesterday, covering up all the flaws and scribble marks on the paint. And then I set to attacking the gigantic mound of laundry. And then I pressed "start" on the washer. Nothing...

Eric and Matt did some rewiring the other day to install a vanity light, and in doing so, appear to have removed a power source to the washer and the back bedroom. Nice. I've respectfully requested that they abstain from further electrical work. I appreciate the initiative, but prefer that they not burn the house down or prevent me from doing laundry I needed to do 2 weeks ago. SIGH. We called an electrician.

It's all about knowing your limitations, right? I KNOW that I am woefully unskilled at a wide variety of things--electrical, plumbing and anything involving a powertool are just a few of these. Therefore, I don't even attempt, and I'm positive that the house is better for it. I'm just saying...

Anyway, today I think we'll continue a little spring cleaning, even though it's supposed to FREAKING SNOW! today. It's rather unbelievable to me how dusty and dirty things get if we don't stay on top of it around here. Yesterday, I swiffered for the first time in probably 3 days. I picked up a dog's worth of fur. Seriously, how are the puppies not bald?? I took a half bag of fur off of Yogi's TAIL yesterday. Because he's half Rotti/half dog-with-a-tail, he has a sort of long stump for a tail. It looks huge, but in reality is quite a small tail. It's just covered in 17 layers of matted fur. Disgusting.

In other news, we start this week on the master-bath shower build out. Like the guest bath shower, this one is down to the studs and sub-floor. Our guy comes back this week and we'll get moving. Wahoo. Once we finish the master bath, we'll be able to refinance. We have a pretty low interest rate as it is, but I'm hoping that a marginally lower rate, plus a new appraisal to put us a 20%+ equity, will mean that we have no more PMI and lower payment. That would be awesome.

Anyway, as of right now, we're planning on the following for the master bath:

dark brown cork floors - apparently, cork is really good in a bathroom, particularly if you seal it with several coats of poly. Cork doesn't conduct heat/cold, so it adapts to the temperature of your feet. This means that Eric's well-laid, if delusional, plans for an electric bathmat/radiant heat floor are unnecessary.
ivory shower tiles with glass-mosaic accents - I'm a big fan of subway tiles. They always look sharp. Eric, though, wants something different from the guest bath, and I understand that. We'll use square ivory/off-white tiles for the shower, and probably do an accent around the shower control/head with the glass tile.
Tell me what you think... We were at the tile shop the other day and saw some rock tile. You know--the flat stones that are mounted on the mesh. What I'm wondering is whether we could make that ourselves? Find flat stones, maybe run them through a polisher or something, and then lay them individually? Seems to me that the only benefit the pre-fab tile has over this is the mesh backing that might make it easier to lay. But if it just means finding the stones, sticking them into the thinset, and then grouting, is this possible?
We'll tear out the ugly vanity we've got going on right now, and replace it either with 2 individual vanities (something like this, or this) or a better-looking 2 sink vanity. Or Eric will build something.

Anyway, we'll see. This bathroom is roughly 3.5 times the size of the guest bathroom, and that project started back in January, and still isn't finished. So, it's looking like we might finish this by, say, Christmas.

Lazy Sunday

2009-03-29T06:02:00.001-07:00

While chatting with a friend last night, I was reminded of this SNL skit--genius. Mr. Pibb and Red Vines... Crazy delicious, indeed.

Being a Hoosier, though, I am partial to this remake:

I found the camera. It was on a desk, not hidden at all. I feel foolish.

2009-03-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Picture time!

Adventures in landscaping... Most of the purple stuff is phlox, which should become mounded eventually, and stuff at the top right is spreading, so we're hoping that eventually, the flowers take over the whole yard so we don't have to worry about growing our anemic grass.

Hanging baskets and nice new planters for the front porch below.

Meanwhile, this is the attic ceiling... Yes, it's on the floor. In the foyer.

Bathroom!!!! Bathroombathroombathroombathroom!!!!!!! Do you like my nice new shower curtain?

Here's the shelf above the washer/dryer. It took forever to paint, but it's worth it.

The Shower is Glorious

2009-03-25T05:40:00.000-07:00

I've showered in it probably five times now, and it's lovely. LOVELY. We can't find the camera, though, so I have no pictures for you. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Now that we've finally finished the shower, you'd think we would have a finished bathroom. Well, OF COURSE NOT. Don't be silly. What we have now is a lovely shower and a disaster zone. Eric moved the vanity light location over about 8 inches since it was going to be off-center, so we had two holes. Filled the one up--that still has spackle in it that needs to be sanded and painted. The whole bathroom needs to be repainted because Eric, for whatever reason, scribbled little pencil measurement notes to himself all over the walls. The mirror needs to be rehung. We have shelves somewhere--I don't know where. Finally, we have to get down and SCRUB that floor. For being a brand new tile floor, it looks like crap. I got a beautiful black and white floral shower curtain the other day that I'm thinking will tie the room together nicely, but I can't put it up till we're finished painting. Maybe we'll finish by May.

On Sunday, we went up to the Depot to get a robe hook for the bathroom (not installed yet), and ended up in the garden center. We got a bunch of ground cover and phlox and even a couple rose bushes. I planted them all on Sunday afternoon, and even did a little landscaping with some bricks. It looks pretty good. We also got some hanging baskets and a hummingbird feeder--makes the porch look like new. I've been spending a lot of time out there lately, since it's been so nice outside.

I realize these posts are totally boring. We're going to do a massive search for the camera tonight.

It's Been a While

2009-03-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not ignoring the blog, really. It's just been THAT busy lately, and for some reason, I am dog-tired all the time. Like, heading to bed at 9:00-reading for 10 minutes-falling asleep with my glasses on tired. I attribute this to daylight savings time. Yes, I know it happened several weeks ago, but I just can't get used to waking up before dawn, even if it is at 6:30, which is a pretty reasonable time.

Anyway, we're making progress. Eric cousin Matty is up for an extended visit, and while I'm sure large portions of their days are spent chatting incessantly about baseball, basketball, football or comic books (seriously, I listened to 25 minutes of NON-STOP chatter about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the characters in the next X-Men movie before I finally said, "OH MY GOD. Shut up!"), they are getting some work done.

Yesterday, they went up to Menards and bought some beadboard, and while they haven't put it up on the attic ceiling yet, they have cleaned up the attic (so necessary--it's disgusting up there), and installed some rafters, which will allow for enhanced venting in the peak of the cealing. It's going to look awesome.

In 2nd floor shower-related news, no, I have not experienced the joy of showering on the same floor as my bedroom yet. This is because even though the shower is functional and beautiful, we have neglected to purchase a curtain (there will ultimately be a door, but not for a while). Eric is supposed to get one when he's out and about today.

Outside... It's looking better. We raked up about 10 lawn bags full of leaves and branches in the front and back yard, and even out in the esplanade. It rained like crazy last night, so the backyard is still a mud pit, but eric has big plans in the next week or so to rent a roto-tiller and plant some grass. I'm staying out of it.

We're going to take down the white picket fence that surrounds our front yard. Strange... I spent DAYS painting that fence just last fall, and while it had seen better days, it was in decent shape. Well, something happened this winter, because that fence is DERELICT. It's rotting away before our eyes. So we're just going to take it down, find something to replace the pillars and stair-rail, and be done with it. Next summer, we'll do a retaining wall.

I'll post some pictures of various projects this evening.

WahoooOO!!!!

2009-03-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

The shower works. Holy crap, I thought this day would never come. But yes, there's a showerhead and a turny-thingy and water actually comes out and goes down the drain.

Eric had a brainstorm today, and determined that it wasn't that the cap on the shower head pipe was actually stuck, it was that the warm water in the pipes was making them expand. So, he turned off the water, let things cool down, and ta-da! It worked.

I am so happy.

Feh

2009-03-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

No, the shower's not done yet. I am beginning to get discouraged.

The good news is that the only reason it's not done is because our plumber hasn't been able to come look at it, not because we had to rip down the newly tiled walls or anything like that.

In much-to-Haley's-chagrin-type news, Eric did indeed build a cabinet over the washer/dryer. It looks great. I just need to paint it. This bathroom has more trim in it than I would have imagined possible.

Entering the meeting-est 3 days of my life. Seriously--I've got them stacked. Tonight at IUPUI, tomorrow in Bloomington before 9:00. I may have something at 11:30 that I neglected to put on my calendar. Meeting at 4:00. Meeting at 6:00. Meeting AFTER the 6:00. Start up Friday at 7:45 till noon, then meeting at 1:00. Woohoo!

I should have known better

2009-03-04T05:40:00.001-08:00

...than to be even remotely excited about the shower being finished. Because you know when you get excited about something home-improvement-related that fate/karma/the wrath of God/whatever will step in and poop in your shoe.

Indeed, the shower stall is complete, and looks fantastic. However, now that Eric has taken on the task of installing the shower head, he has run up against a roadblock in the form of a very small cap, that has been screwed on the end of the pipe. He can't get it off. So RJ, our plumber, is coming over sometime soon and hopefully will know what to do. Because I swear, if we've been through all this crap and our shower still doesn't work... Well, I don't know what I'll do about it, but I certainly won't be happy.

This really is classic-Eric, though, I have to say. Not the inefficiency of it. No no--he's efficient down to the very core of his being. And thorough and methodical. SO thorough and SO methodical that he has difficulty actually 100% completing a project. He will spend days and days designing what is basically a shelf to go over our washer/dryer, because he hates that I put the detergent on top of the unit (I say, it's a natural shelf!). But do we have that shelf yet? No! We have a 3-D computer rendering of it, complete with beveled edges and color. Same situation with the downstairs half-bath, which is the strangest shaped room in all of creation. We popped a tall cabinet in one of the weirder corners, and as far as I can see, all we need to do is slap up a couple pieces of trim around the seams and we're good to go. This cabinet spent at least 2 months sitting in the hallway waiting to be installed, and has been in its home for probably 3 months now. The trim is sitting in the bathroom, waiting to be put up. Do we have a finished cabinet--of course not. But we do have a professional computer model of how it's going to look when it's finished.

Ahh, the blessings and curses of living with an architect... This is what he does for a living--this is who he is!

One might argue, Haley, why don't you take the initiative and do this stuff yourself? I answer, there are several reason:

I have to live with this man
I understand that even though this propensity toward overplanning may drive me crazy, the quality of his work is still MUCH better than mine. In fact, I can't recall a single instance in which the term "quality" has ever been applied to my home improvement skilz.
I am afraid of the nail gun.

So, I putter around the edges, painting everything I can get my hands on, moving furniture around in attempts to make myself feel like progress is being made, and crushing his dreams of laying $25/sq ft tile on the floor of our gigantic bathroom.

It's a great time to be me.

Update on the Update

2009-02-26T05:58:00.000-08:00

Did I say the shower would be finished by the end of the weekend??? I meant, the end of TODAY!!!!

Our contractor was able to come back yesterday and install the rest of the tile, now he just has to wipe and seat the grout. Eric will install the showerhead and thingy that turns on the water (under contractor's guidance), and then we'll have a shower. Now, just keep your fingers crossed that it actually works and we don't crash though the ceiling into the kitchen.

I didn't mention one other project we're hoping to do in the last update--a deck. Right now, we have just a little stoop off the back door, purposefully kept little because we're going to move that door during the kitchen remodel. I'm thinking that if we're able to find a nice door on sale, we may just go ahead and move it--would be pretty easy, I think, as there's no plumbing or electric in the wall where we'd put the new door, and we have plenty of siding left over to put over the hole for the old door. We'll see, I guess.

Update

2009-02-24T05:21:00.000-08:00

We got the extra tiles for FREE! Sweet. As it turned out, we had miscalculated in the beginning. Still no reason why it took a month for 6 tiles to get to us, but all in all, this worked out okay. Our contractor is coming back on Friday, so barring any disasters, we should have a working shower in the guest bathroom by the end of the weekend!!! HOORAY!!!!!!

I guess protocol is that whoever did your plumbing has to come back and install the shower head and knob that turns on the water. As we've got an unofficial restraining order against our old contractor (as in, if I ever see him again, regardless of where we are, I will go batshit crazy on him), we're enlisting a friend of our new guy.

So, taxes are done. We're getting back about $8K with the new homeowner tax credit. SWEET! I think our next projects will be:

Beadboard ceiling for the attic - Under the premise of "needing to insulate", Eric totally destroyed the attic. As of now, he's put the baffles in under the insulation, because HA!, whoever did this before had neither soffit vents or any sort of venting system to get the hot air out of the peak of the roof, hence the 110 degree temps up there in the summer... We bought a solar attic fan for up there, as well, so we'll need to get that installed on the room. We're just going to go with the pre-cut sections of beadboard, paint them white, and screw them up there. Will look nicer than drywall for a fraction of the price.

New carpet for bedrooms and attic - I mentioned a couple months ago that our current carpet situation was starting to wear on my psyche. We've got very limited carpet in the house, which is nice, but what we do have is absolutely disgusting. So much so that I have to sort of suspend my instincts when walking upon it in anything less than tennis shoes. It will be delightful to have new clean carpet. I'm thinking a neutral color, maybe with a pattern? If we were smart, we'd go with black carpet to hide the dog hair, but that would be ridiculous.

Carpet runner for stairs and foyer - We went to a Progressive Dinner in our neighborhood last month. Our neighborhood is full of really neat old houses that people have really brought back. One was an old Victorian over on Delaware that particularly impressed us. The owner had laid this great runner down the stairs with those neat little rods to hold it in place. So that's what we're going to do. We're also going to extend it from the front door to the kitchen. I didn't realize how inconvenient it is to not have a mudroom or little foyer to put your shoes and coats until this winter, when I've gone through at least 3 bottles of Swiffer Wet Jet floor solution cleaning up all the bootmarks and salty pawprints.

Refinish the hardwood throughout the house - Oh, our hardwoods are delightful, and original! They've been through a lot, though. They're nailed down, every 4 inches or so, and someone in their infinite wisdom used a beltsander against the grain of the wood, so there are some black marks around the nails. It also looks like someone spilled a can of stain and didn't bother to wipe it up. Anyway, we're going to do some surgery and replace the couple boards that are bad, sand it all down, and then stain a darker color to hide the burn marks and spill. If I could do the whole house again, I think I'd go with a charcoal undertone--I think that looks so cool--but that doesn't match the other woodwork, so we'll just go with a dark brown.

New fireplace tiles - Ugh. I thought this was going to be one of the first things we'd get done. When we bought the house, the fireplace had this gross faux brick tile, and honestly, I don't think it was ever even cemented to the backer. Pieces were falling out, so one day, I just decided to tear out the whole thing. That was about 5 months ago, and I've had a bare, ugly fireplace since. We're going to go with a nice neutral green color, I think, and once Big Sweetie has completed the built-ins, the whole thing will look something like this, minus the big-screen and stained glass:

Master bath: Our master bath is totally weird. It's HUGE, for one thing, but is oddly shaped and even more oddly-laid out. When we bought the house, the master had a teeny-tiny little shower--one of those pre-fab things, and it looked ridiculous. Now, in retrospect, we probably should have kept that shower there for a while, used it, and not had to traipse up to the attic every morning, but that is neither here nor there at this point. When the contractors took out the old shower, we had them build a very large stall, more fitting the size of the room. So, we'll have our new contractor do the pan, and I think we'll try our hand at tiling. We'll do the shower, a new floor (currently slate--in a bathroom???), and there's a Jacuzzi tub (which works!) that is tiled in, too, so we'll replace that stuff. Our closet is basically carved out of the bathroom space, and is pretty small, so Eric's going to move the closet door into the bathroom, and extend the closet walls a bit. This will also mean we'll have a window in the closet, so it'll be more like a dressing room. Sweet.

So, there's my wishlist for the time being. I hope it translates into reality.

Amazing!

2009-02-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

I just received word that our tiles, all 6 of the standard, white subway tile with a bullnose edge that somehow took more than a month to travel from wherever they were manufactured to Indianapolis, have arrived at the store. Actually, Eric called the store manager to complain, and the guy checked and said, "oh yeah, we can get those right away." Eric said, "How soon?" and the guy said, "I've got them in my hand." So either this was fate that we called today, or our salesman was a total incompetent. I'm guessing the latter.

Yeah, you'd better believe we're getting 75% off those tiles. Ridiculous.

Tax Day!

2009-02-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I'm actually looking forward to getting our taxes done this year. As first-time homebuyers, we're qualified for a $7,500 tax credit! Whoop! Plus, I seriously doubt we will have any liability at all, what with the copious student loan and mortgage interest we paid last year. I have tried to figure out (okay, I looked online for about 5 minutes) whether people without liability, ie, getting a refund, still get the credit ON TOP of the refund. So, if I was going to get a $2,500 refund, would I get a check for $10K?? Because that would be awesome. AWESOME.

Anyway, we're evaluating where we stand. Given the economy and my general paranoia about everything from recessions to zombie attacks, we're going to avoid using any of our savings. Plus, we're 90% out of credit card debt now, which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside...

Sidebar: I just saw a commercial of pets singing about being too far away from their parents--it was about Bounce dryer sheets with pet hair repellent. I need some of those. And I need to wipe the entire house down with them.

Anyway! Like I said, we're evaluating. Even if we're just using the credit, I could do some major damage with $7,500. The question is whether we attack one big project (the kitchen) or a bunch of small ones. I figure we could finish the following:

Master bath (shower build out and tile)
Fireplace tile
Built-ins on the fireplace
Floors refinished
Deck
Maybe new carpet??

But I really want a new kitchen! But it would be very nice to get all these little things done, too.... I guess we'll find out this afternoon!

In other news, the Pix got another bath last night. I don't know how it happened, but she was the stinkiest she's ever been, despite just having a bath a couple weeks ago. She's being uber-annoying right now because Daddy is upstairs sleeping (I got up 2 hours ago--he said he'd be right down) and she SO wants to go wake him up. She's staring at me, making little yipping noises, but she sure looks cute and fuzzy.

We're Still Here...

2009-02-16T12:59:00.001-08:00

Yes, we're here. But our tile isn't... After being promised several times in January that our tile would be shipped to us by February 10, we still don't have it. Hence, the bathroom is still sitting 99% completed, and Haley is 100% ticked off.

Wild Nights, or "Pixie Gets a Bath"

2009-02-07T16:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's Saturday night and our big plans included bathing the pup and... actually, that's it. We're making a pizza for dinner and will likely finish a bottle of wine. Whooo.

Today was glorious. Got up to about 55 degrees, and the snow has nearly all melted. It left behind a hot mess in the backyard, though.

Hence the need for a bath. Pixie is PISSED at me.

Shower's Still Not Finished, Or "Haley Hates the Tile Shop"

2009-02-04T05:29:00.000-08:00

So, yeah. The shower still isn't finished. I looked longingly at it as I passed to trudge up the 3rd floor stairs to a serviceable, but not cool, working shower. It makes me crazy.

Because we're being frugal (both on purpose and by nature) we ordered only as much tile as we needed. We were either about 6 tiles short, or the shop ran out--I let Eric handle the negotiations with the tile guy, as they were mixing business with football talk, and I just can't deal with that crap. We've now been waiting for a week for 6 white ceramic bullnose tile to arrive. Suckkkkkkkk.

In other news, it has been cold as hell here, and I am just about fed up with winter. I'm not outside nearly as much as I was in Boston, what with the traipsing around town back and forth to work every day. But it seems to me that this winter has been especially hard. Maybe it's because I'm a miser with the gas bill, and we keep the house at 57 degrees. That's what the thermostat is set to, anyway--I think it's calibrated wrong. It CAN'T be 57 degrees in my house, right? Anyway, we recently got on the year-round gas bill thing, and boy, has it been a godsend. Yes, it would be nice to not have a payment at all in the summertime when the gas is off entirely, but an extra couple hundred dollars in the winter months is both nice and necessary. What a racket, though... Eric was talking about doing a woodstove. Which I would love, but I'm kind of nervous about. We're going to have the chimney cleaned and inspected next week, so that will at least let us know if we're providing a nesting spot for any squirrels, and will, I suppose, clarify the feasibility of a woodstove.

This is one of those years where I can't wait to do our taxes. We're poised to get a rather massive refund, what with the move, mortgage, student loan interest, and stimulus plans. This may be the spring of the kitchen! I sure hope so. I've been doing some research (ie, looking at pictures) online and even though when I'm in the store looking at cabinets, I'm drawn to the darker wood, when I'm looking at WHOLE kitchens, I'm really into white cabinets. HOWEVER, we have massive black appliances, which would probably look lame with white cabinets. Mom and Dad, maybe you guys could plan to come down here when we're doing this. I'm going to need some guidance from people who have a sense of style. I have no confidence in my taste anymore. Eric is still good, but he is prone to choosing anything and everything that is Mission-style, which is great, but might not be the perfect fit for this house. Too many decisions.

Big Snow

2009-01-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Yowzers.

Last night, we got about 11 inches of snow. In Roscommon, this would be just another day. In Indianapolis, it means CHAOS. All schools are closed, people stayed home from work, etc. However, all of the idiots are out on the roads. I include myself in this, as I just tried to go to work at about 12:30, thinking that since the snow stopped about 4 hours ago, certainly there's been time to plow. Um, no. I tried 4 different routes to work, then gave up and came home. Nearly got stuck in a snowbank, going south on the wrong side of the road on my street, as the south side of the street hadn't even been touched yet. Ridiculous.

And it's quite likely that I will run out of gas tomorrow, as my light has been blinking since last night and I definitely used a lot today as I gunned it to get out of the snowbank. Sigh.

Shower

2009-01-23T16:44:00.005-08:00

Tiling the Shower, or "Will Somebody PLEASE Tell My Contractor That It's 2009 and Kenny G Is Not Appropriate Music to Blast at a Client's House"

2009-01-23T15:35:00.000-08:00

Ahh, adventures in home improvement. It's like a movie--an interminably long, boring-as-hell movie, set to instrumental versions of "Turn Me On" and "Hello" by Lionel Richie. I am ready for this day to be done.

So, the story starts yesterday, when we had to go buy tile for the guest shower. We went to Lowes first, despite my proclamations after every time I go there that I will never EVER go there again. I just didn't want to drive all the way up to the north side. Anyway, this trip was nothing new. We were looking for several things:

1) white 3x6 subway tile

2) white mosaic tile for the shower floor

3) accent piece for the shower walls

4) soap dish for the wall

What did we find?

1) they were out of subway tile. OUT! I assume that white subway tile is pretty much any tile section's bread and butter.

2) there was a box of white mosaic tile, but only 6 pieces. We needed 9. Could they find three more pieces? Of course not.

3) I was too frustrated to even look for the accent pieces

4) no soapdishes

So, we drive all the way up to the north side, which is where I didn't want to go in the first place, and stopped at a real tile store. They have everything we want. Sweet.

We go to check out, and our salesman, after a while, tells us "Well, your original total was $1,100." I have a minor heart attack, because remember, we're going for SIMPLE with this shower, and it's just white tiles. Salesman says, "But the discounted price is $875." And I say, "Umm, no. That's not in the budget." And then proceed to discuss with Eric how we'll just get the floor tile and accent pieces, and we'll get the wall tiles at the Depot. Our salesman then panics and tells us that it's so expensive because what we'd chosen (what he'd shown us) was porcelain tile, not ceramic, which is much cheaper. So I say, "Show us the ceramic." We got it, the price was cut in half, and fiscal irresponsibility averted.

The contractor is upstairs right now, listening to his Kenny G, and laying the floor down in the shower. I hope he leaves soon, as I feel weird sitting under a blanket in the living room, reading a book/blogging/watching tv/cuddling with the pups/etc. while someone is working in my house. It's not like I'm going to go up there and help him, but I feel like I should be offering to fetch his tools or something. Ah well.

I will post pictures as soon as he and Kenny go.

Back

2009-01-19T17:10:00.000-08:00

I spent a nice long weekend up in Michigan, visiting the fam. Yes, we were just up there several weeks ago for Christmas, but since I'm within a relatively easy driving distance, and since my sister was there and I so rarely get to see her, I went.

Hence, the no posting. Last week at work was also insane, but I finished up a project that I've been working on for the last four months, so that felt good.

Work on our shower started Sunday, and they got a ton done. The shower is entirely sealed up and they're putting in the drain and basin tomorrow! Tiling starts on Thursday! Which means, we could have a working shower by next week. Swoon. This is almost as good as Edward Cullen.

"Guest Bathroom, Finale." Or "Haley Finally Gets to Do Something After Work Besides Painting Beadboard."

2009-01-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

Yowzers, am I psyched about this! Our new and improved bathroom!

Eric did such a great job with the trim in there--I'm so proud of him. We had a contractor come in the other day to give us a quote for the shower and he couldn't believe that we'd done this ourselves. So, next time you see Big Sweetie, give him a pat on the back for a job well done. And I get a pat too, for spending so much freaking time painting this crap.

Dad, is that a good enough picture of the window to let you judge the appropriateness of an interior or exterior mount for blinds? The trim is 5.5 inches, and there's about a half inch for each of those steps going toward the window.

The guy we brought over the other day to look at the shower gave us a great quote, so we're going to start next Thursday! You know what that means... A shower on the 2nd floor!!!!! Serious--the quote he gave us to build the pans AND tile for both showers was just $300 more than the other contractor quoted for just the pans. I'm feeling good about this.

In other news, Eric got a new car today. I have been dreading this day for a long time, not only because it means that we have another payment to make (it's been nice not having a second car payment for a couple months...), but because Eric is borderline OCD about this stuff and I knew that it would be an extremely long day at the dealership. He has also been doing extensive research online for the last 3 weeks or so. We headed out this morning, and got back around 3:00 this afternoon with a Chevy HHR. Eric loves it, and is dreaming of all the home improvement projects he'll be able to do, now that he has a big car to tote around wood and other stuff. The rule is, now that he has his car, he's not allowed to talk about cars anymore. He's happy, I'm happy... Good tmes.

Guest Bathroom, Part 3, Or, Painting Beadboard Sucks

2009-01-06T17:07:00.001-08:00

We're making progress, slow but sure. Unfortunately, the progress has been marred by the fact that I will have to do at least 2 coats of bright white enamel on the trim. While it's very frustrating to have trim and walls that have been painted three dozen times, it's much easier to paint them. Ah well.

We've discovered more copper fixtures, which has inspired me to go hunting around the rest of the house for old crusty doorknobs that I thought were just old, but are, in fact, awesome.

Finally, I don't think I ever posted a picture of the results of my bachelorette weekend while Big Sweetie was in Boston: the chocolate brown bedroom. It's quite dark up there right now, but you get the jist. It's less purply than it looks. If you look really hard, you will see the tippy top of Yogi's head as he's sacked out on the bed. Smart dog. Pixie, on the other hand, is down here with me, chewing on the carcass of a stuffed animal. She gutted it yesterday and spread the fuzzy insides all over the carpet.

Guest Bathroom, Part 2

2009-01-04T11:40:00.001-08:00

We're making progress. And a mess. I shudder to think at how much lead-based paint I ate today whilst scraping the roughly 27 layers off the guest bathroom window and door casings. Gross.

I did, however, uncover this pretty awesome copper window lift, which was covered in paint to a point where you couldn't even see the raised design. I'm pleased as punch about this. I also discovered that our bathroom trim has been painted hot pink, yellow, the eggshell white you see here, and lime green, among others.

Meanwhile, Pixie ate through the vacuum cord, so that's great. We're waging a losing battle with dog hair even when the vacuum works and we use it daily. I can't imagine what we're going to do until we a) fix the cord, or b) get a new vacuum. Again, gross.

Eric is still upstairs trim-trim-trimming. Then he'll caulk and putty. And then I will be able to paint, which is what I've been waiting all weekend to do. While I've waited, I moved all the furniture in the foyer and living room, cleaned the floors, and rearranged everything. This makes me feel very good--like I have a new room or something. The living room looks great. The foyer would be great if all of Eric's crap wasn't laying in the middle of the floor--he took the bike rack off the top of his car this week and couldn't find a better spot for it. Funny. I can think of about 12 better spots for it.

Anyway, you can see the paint color better in this picture. I like it a lot. The Sherwin-Williams Roycroft Arts and Crafts interior paint palette has really helped us out. I become paralyzed/stupid in the face of more than a dozen or so colors to choose from (hence the bright green half bath and insane yellow kitchen...). So this little tool has both assuaged my fears of being non-historically accurate and enabled me to make some bold color choices that I never would have otherwise (hence the mauve foyer, navy blue office, chocolate brown bedroom, orange dining room, etc.).

Haley

Guest Bathroom, Part 1

2009-01-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

We're finally getting around to starting (and maybe finishing???) a project we started talking about, ohhh, 4 months ago. We're putting the trim up in the guest bathroom.

This room used to house a very large vanity and a bathtub and a tile floor with 12-inch tile. Now it has a small vanity, a shower stall (unfinished, but what else is new??), and a tile floor with little tiles from hell. Because of all these changes, and because Eric has his little heart set on new trim, we bought new trim. We're also taking it a step further and putting beadboard wainscoting up, which we will paint white.

Yesterday, in preparation for what I anticipated to be a good intentioned morning where materials would be purchased, but no actual work would get done, I painted the entire bathroom, despite the fact that half the walls will be covered by the beadboard. Well, paint me surprised, because they're actually working right now, and making progress. Unprecedented.

It's not that I don't have faith in my husband. I do. Lots of it, and he's been ridiculously patient with me too. But we have about 90 half finished projects hanging out around here, so forgive

me if I was expecting this to be yet another of them.

Here's Big Sweetie out on the front porch playing carpenter.

This is a horrible picture, but I don't feel like going back upstairs and taking another one. The walls are a nice blue-green color, and that is the new trim around the window. SWEET.

Tomorrow, we find a new car for Eric. SIGHHH.

I know, I know...

2008-12-31T06:13:00.000-08:00

It's been weeks! Long gone are the weeks when I would post 3 maybe 4 times. I'm disappointing my readership (all 3 of you...). I will do better.

Much of the delay has been due to the holidays, where we visited my lovely family in Roscommon. Delightful visit, filled with way WAY too much food (serious, Mom--I need elastic waistbands now), Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly tournaments, The Christmas Story, and so much snow. SO MUCH SNOW! We had a great time.

However, I am surprisingly happy to be home. In fact, my usage of the word "home" to describe our place in Indy is new. Home has always been Roscommon. I guess this means I'm happy here.

I leave you with a picture of our visit. Will update later this week.

Lazy Sunday

2008-12-14T16:19:00.001-08:00

I spent most of the day messing around on my computer, making Christmas presents and watching stupid videos. Here we are--prime Sunday house-improvement time--and we did not take advantage of it. I don't feel bad.

I haven't been posting very much for a couple reasons. One is that I've been crazy busy the last couple weeks, or at least it feels like it. Second is that I feel very boring. Third is that there's a bit of a moratorium on big house projects until after the New Year. Must get through Christmas before starting a new task.

Eric did get some work done up in the attic yesterday. He's such a trooper. You see, if I was assigned this duty, I would probably just not do it. But Eric approached the task of stuffing about 12 bags of loose insulation into the kneewalls of the attic with gusto. Notice the ski goggles... That's dedication, folks. He found a mummified mouse, which he told me to take downstairs. I said no.

We spent a good deal of time Furminating and then cuddling with the puppies, who are both getting very excited about visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Michigan next week. We are, too. Eric gets to go back to Boston for a visit next weekend (free plane ticket!) while I get to stay home and work and watch the kids. I may paint our bedroom, too. Eric is obsessed with chocolate brown for our walls, so we'll see how it looks. Might be nice. Might also be cave-like. That's why I like paint--never permanent.

Winter Freakin' Wonderland

2008-12-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

So, I'd forgotten that Hoosiers don't know how to drive in the snow. It was an adventure this morning when I was out and about, for sure.

Today, we did some weatherproofing of the house, and that was pretty much it. Meanwhile, the puppies enjoyed the snow. Look at our handsome boy.

Oh yeah, and it's also like a scene from The Birds outside! Every crow in central Indiana has taken up roost in our neighborhood. So weird and kind of scary.

Thanks

2008-11-30T16:41:00.000-08:00

You know how when you eat too much, things sort of slow down and you feel like your blood is gravy and your head is full of stuffing? Well, compound that over four days of ridiculous amounts of food, and you've got me and the Big E today. Wearing elastic-waist pants...

We had a marvelous Thanksgiving, in large part due to my delightful parents, who traversed down from the Great White North, and my extended family, who came up from Southern Indiana for Thanksgiving Day and a leftovers party, and our Indy-based relatives, who had us over for delicious snacks and wine (and I regretted driving because I could only have one glass of that delicious wine...). This is the thing I love the most about Indiana. Yes, I love Indianapolis because it's not Boston, but that's hardly a good reason. I love it here because we're closer to my family, who I haven't seen often enough in years. So, Mom and Dad, THANKS. It's always just wonderful having you here.

The pups are also exhausted, Pixie in particular, as she had a very eventful weekend playing with her Auntie Madison (my parents' dog, therefore my sister, hence, Pix and Yogi's aunt...). One of the funnier dog-related moments occurred last night. When we returned from our visit, we discovered that Pixie had somehow taken off Madison's neckerchief and had destroyed it. Not just chewed on it like a normal dog, but ripped it into 20 pieces and spread those pieces throughout the living room. She and Yogi have been laying around all day, snoring up a storm.

Anyway, I thought I'd take a minute to list just a couple of the things I'm thankful for:

Eric--Big sweetie. He's my best friend, and I'm lucky to get to live with him.
The Fam--The older I get, the cooler they get. Especially now that we're living closer, I am so grateful for all of the help and support they've given us with the house.
The puppies--Seriously, these little dogs are the light of my life. I don't remember what we did before we got them. They drive me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.
The House--The thorn in my side AND the flower in my lapel, this house is testing and rewarding us in ways neither of us anticipated. I love it more every day, even when I hate it.

We did get some very cool projects done this weekend. Eric and dad spent some time in the backyard putting up the rest of the fence, including a 6-foot gate that locks. I am thrilled with both the way it looks and our enhanced security for the pups. Mom and I went and picked up some picture frames and FINALLY hung some pictures and paintings on the walls. I've been scared to put holes in the walls, given all the time we've spent painting. It's strange how that can make such a difference. It feels homier and more comfortable and more like OUR house than ever before.

Mom and Dad and Aunt Ro and Uncle Shorty were all VERY impressed with the new exterior of the house, as they haven't been here since we finished it. That is so gratifying, especially when my mom says that she really loves the colors we picked--she has excellent taste, I think. Sometimes I look at it and think it's a bit too green and too yellow, but I've been seeing lately that it's really just a nice looking house, and I'm feeling good about it.

We got a quote back on our upcoming bathroom project, the building of shower basins for our guest and master showers. Ummm, we will not be going with this particular company, who quoted us at $2,400 for two shower BASINS. No tile, minimal plumbing, no framing. I think that is about double what I was anticipating. We'll likely tackle that project after the New Year. Before then, though, I think we'll be able to do the wainscotting/beadboard in the guest bath, and subsequent painting. Perhaps next weekend. I head out for a whirlwind trip to DC for work next Sunday-Tuesday. I like traveling, but I feel like I've been away a lot in the last month, plus will head to Syracuse for a wedding mid-month. That is a lot of nights away from big sweetie and the pups.

I have pictures, but lack the initiative to find the camera cord or camera. Will do tomorrow. Happy belated Thanksgiving!

Weekend Update

2008-11-24T05:12:00.001-08:00

Why the heck am I so tired? It's not like I spent my weekend ripping nails out of trim, or painting, or any of that laborious stuff we used to like doing. Oh yeah, we still DO it, but we don't like it anymore.

Saturday was a whirlwind. I went down to Columbus on Saturday morning to take a look at some furniture my aunt has--I do believe we've scored a china cabinet! It's beautiful. Not really arts & crafts, or even close, but I think we can make some modifications to the hardware and perhaps do some creative trimming, and it'll be perfect. The trip was originally to look at a table, as the table we're using right now is totally the wrong size for the room....

Here's the deal. Our dining room is HUGE. Maybe 16x18, or somewhere close to that. As such, any table that looks like it FITS in that room will, too, have to be huge. Forget the fact that we have no friends and don't entertain... Anyway, so my parents donated their old dining room table to the cause. I remember this table from my childhood, and I remember it being huge. Yeah, it's not. It's a lovely table, though. So, I went down to aunt's house to take a look at the table that used to be in my grandparents' house. I also remembered this table to be much bigger than it actually is. It IS significantly bigger than the one we're using, but again, not in the style of the house. So I think we're just going to pass and then save up for a new or new-to-us table that's the style and size we want.

I went grocery shopping this weekend, for Thanksgiving. I hate grocery shopping even when there's no pressure on. So, Saturday afternoon saw me at the super Target, on the phone with my mom, asking what the HECK is the difference between the 14 different types of roasters on display. One day, when I'm a real grown up, I will do this stuff on my own and will feel totally confident going into the holidays.

My sister said a funny thing the other day, as we were comparing Thanksgiving plans (hers are worse). She said, 'Just make sure you have enough to drink, and that your house is warm.' She remembers well the weekend the fam visited, before the gas and heat was turned on...

Sunday was devoted to cleaning. I finally put away several boxes of stuff that have been sitting in the middle of our bedroom since we moved in. Washed the floors, waxed the floor in the dining room. Engaged in futile battle with dog fur. We went to Lowes last night (I know--we said we werent' going to Lowes anymore, but neither of us felt like driving the extra 20 minutes to the Depot...) to pick up light bulbs, as it appears that all of the bulbs in our house decided to burn out at the same time. Also picked up some Christmas decorations, including twinkle lights and a nice wreath. I got some candle lights for the windows, but got them home and discovered that there is a reason they cost $3.

It is a gloomy gloomy day today, but I'm looking forward to getting to work and getting lots done, as it is a certainty that at least 80% of state government workers will be taking the week off, and therefore not calling me.

No sleep for you, loser!

2008-11-19T05:24:00.001-08:00

I have got to start remembering to take the dogs' collars off before we go to bed. This morning, Yogi woke me up no fewer than 5 times when he moved or scratched or rolled over. And he wouldn't come when I called him. Silly stubborn dog.

So, yes. At a time when I desperately need more than 6 hours, I'm not getting it. Thinking that this weekend may be a lost one, where I watch old episodes of One Tree Hill on the Soap network and don't change out of my jammies until 4:00 in the afternoon. That sounds delightful to me, actually.

The trip deserves a post of its own, and I am waiting for Ashie to send me some pictures and perhaps (GULP!) video of our cross-country adventure.

In house news, basically nothing has changed, but several things have come to my attention that are making me a little anxious.

1) Trim. Eric attempted to put some of the trim back up in the dining room this weekend, and when I called him, he said, "I want to move." Yes, he is a drama-king, but the situation is not ideal. When we had the dining room drywalled, we left our contractor with explicit instructions to build out the drywall so it was level with the old plaster and window casings, simply because we have about a thousand feet of trim to put back up in that room, and making it fit would be a pain in the ass. Well, guess who dropped the ball again. Yes, our ridiculous contractor. How I DESPISE him. Anyway, some of the trim is not fitting, so we're either going to have to get creative and include some new pieces, or we're going to have to scrap the whole project. I vote for the former. Eric, of course, favors the latter. Feh.

2) Electricity. I had the furnace guy out last week after our upstairs furnace stopped working. Normally, I wouldn't care, but the only reason we go upstairs right now (as it is down to studs and rafters) is to take a shower. And it's kind of nice for it not to be 45 degrees when you're taking a shower. So, for $75, he tells me that the furnace is fine, but there's a problem. And that problem may or may not be traceable to our old contractor, though I am of course blaming him because I HATE HIS FACE! Here's the deal. Our upstairs furnace requires 60 amps. The breaker it's hooked to is a 40 amp breaker. No biggie, right? Just change the breaker. Well, yes. The two are hooked up with 30 amp wire, which appears to be snaked through the house with no thought to ease in replacing it. Good lord. Could this get any more ridiculous? My thoughts are no.

3) Security. In our neighborhood, there's a bit of a crime wave happening. We understood this going in--we live downtown, within walking distance from some quite sketchy neighborhoods. However, our street is the safest, it appears, and this is the one time when I don't mind having crazy old lady neighbors, because she's outside all the time, and that is an excellent crime deterrent. We also have a brand new security system with a monitored alarm. I have not yet figured out how to use this. But this is causing a little anxiety on my part, and I am pushing Eric to get the back gate installed so we can have a 100% 6-foot fenced back yard.

We're also looking at some pretty major projects going into this winter. These are not necessarily causing anxiety, just frustration and sometimes despair.
-Bathrooms. Need to get the shower basins installed in both the guest and master baths. We can tile. This has to happen soon. We're also putting up a beadboard wainscotting in the guest bath. This will be relatively easy. And then I will paint the upper wall a beautiful vibrant color.
-Carpet. We were going to wait till we got the ceilings redone to put in new carpet, but I'm not seeing that happening. The carpet we have right now is gross, and is starting to wear on my psyche.
-Attic. Eric, with his infinite enthusiasm for all things man-cave, has destroyed the attic. Serious, we're down to studs and rafters. I believe he's installed the baffles for the vents, but at this point, we have no materials for fixing anything. We're going to do a beadboard ceiling up there, mainly because we hate drywall, and it would be a huge pain to lug all that drywall up 3 flights of stairs. Which we also need to fix... But can't till we get a shower on the second floor.
-Fireplace. I have picked out tile for the fireplace, and now it's just a matter of pricing it out and putting it up. I am very excited about it, as I think it will at least give the impression that one room is at least part way done.
-Paint. I am kind of hating the paint in the kitchen, so I may redo that. I also will paint the guest bedroom.
-Kitchen. This will be the last item on our short list. We've been thinking about it, and it really makes no sense to renovate the kitchen as it's laid out right now. So we're going to move the exterior door into the nook between the kitchen and the dining room, and that will free up SO much space. Eric's been working on a drawing. I'll post it up here when we get closer to K-Day.

In the meantime, we are trying to sock the money away, as well as pay down some credit cards that we opened during our furniture and appliance buying time. I've employed the "one-card-at-a-time" method, where I put everything I can towards the one card with the lowest balance, and then pay minimums on the others. In the last month, I've paid off one full balance, and half of another. My goal is to be 100% credit card free by Christmas of next year.

So, that's my story.

The Great White North

2008-11-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not in Michigan. I'm in Minnesota. It is freaking freezing here, but I am comfy, sitting at a cozy table at the Renaissance Hotel in Minneapolis, eating a pizza, drinking a martini, feeling pretty awesome.

The trip was a success. I will post some pictures soon. It was an adventure of epic proportions. Seriously. Someone should make a movie about us. Two girls, one 16-foot Penske truck, 1000 miles of rain, snow, and an iPod filled with excellent tunes. I'd go see it.

At the Airport

2008-11-14T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at gate B10 at the brand new Indianapolis International Airport. It's seriously new--opened on Wednesday. Beautiful. HUGE. I have no idea where I'm going.

On my way to Boston, starting a whirlwind trip. I'm helping my beloved Ashlee move out of yuck Boston and to awesome Chicago. Tomorrow, we are renting a Penske truck and driving cross country--should get to Chicago on Sunday afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed. From Chicago, I fly out to Minneapolis on Monday morning, where I'm scheduled to give a presentation at a conference. Will be back in Indy on Tuesday. So, let's see. I'll be in at least 7 states in the next 72 hours. Tired already.

Bringing my camera to document what I'm positive will be a raucous drive.

Lots of pictures

2008-11-04T17:40:00.000-08:00

Eric is learning to play the piano. Thus far, he has mastered such songs as "Hamster" and "Rain" on the five-finger C scale. He's considering quitting his job as an architect to focus on his music.

Pomegranates are in season, and I am loving it. They are a beautiful, beautiful fruit, and I adore them.

Some before and after shots:

This is the back of the house when we first bought it (left) and new and improved (right).

Front of the house when we bought it (left) and new and improved (left).

My delightful and hard-working brother-in-law John, tolerating Eric's anal-retentive fence building directives.

The family puppies (Pixie, left; Yogi, middle; and Maddie, right). Yes, Maddie really is that big. She has a Tyrannasaurus Rex head.