Today's project...

2 strands of icicle lights
4 stands of normal white lights
~15 screw hook thingies
1 tall ladder
1 super long extension cord
a couple hours of solo work
= a house ready for Christmas



The outside at least. And yes, the wreath on the door with be replaced with a more holiday appropriate one.

Pleas note, the lights won't be lit again until after Thanksgiving. I'm a beliver that each holiday should get it's time to shine (none of this Halloween to Christmas and skipping turkey day).


- Posted from my iPhone

Look what I grew!

The Straight and Narrow Path

Or... not straight... and, well, not narrow. But it's still a path! And I love it!

Starting with Easter weekend... (Shush, I know that was like 2+ months ago!)

Coleman was my key superstar helper! He rocked!
Good job guys! Keep up the good work! Thanks Chris for all your help!Paige did come out and help a little later. She helped move things along.

Continuing on the following weekend. This time I recruited help. I'm truly blessed with great friends and family.

Rockin' brick chippers! Reusing bricks = save $$$. Reusing bricks = extra work to make them usable.
Notice the driveway back there?Thomas did some sort of Irish jig to stomp the bricks down and get the quick set cement stuff to settle.And now I have my path...
It's not perfect. But I love it! I love that we did it. With our own bare hands. And saved money while we were at it.

Doesn't it just help complete the house and give it some curb appeal? Yea, I thought so too.

Drive: Before and After

Remember this driveway? Yea, the one with the car parked in it. That's the one. Try to focus on what's under the car.
Then it turned into this. Are area lined with bricks. Almost like a landing strip minus the lights. And airplanes. You won't find any of those here.
And now we have this. A lined driveway with cement chunks or "pavers".
Now I just have to keep it watered so the grass will continue to grow around the paver chunks.

And that is my driveway. Another item checked off the list!

Herb Update

It's been 2 weeks since I started my little window garden. And here's the progress...

Check out my basil! My it smells good!
The parsley is off to a slow start...
Basil is winning! It's almost time to plant it outside.
But to add some fun to the competition, this past Thursday I spent $5 more dollars at the Target...
I got tomatoes, chives, sweet pepper, oregano, and strawberries.
They don't come in their own handy little "green house". Maybe I'll use basil's greenhouse once he gets relocated.
So let's see what happens now. Hurry up and grow!

$2 Herbs

A week ago Friday I planted my own little window herb garden. The Target dollar spot had little kits, so I bought 2. No big loss if they don't grow. Or I kill them.

Basil and Parsley (not pictured). For $1, you get the soil, pot, seeds, and greenhouse (plastic container).
Soil disc...Just add water...
and grow.
And now we wait.
So we all know about my patience issue, right?

I don't like waiting. But I can't force these little guys to grow faster than they're meant to.

Drat.

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my first blog.

Things to look back on...

• I went to Washington D.C.
• I got a new job!
• My best friend got married!
• I went to New York
• I moved
• I fell in love...
  to be continued...
  
• I went to Hawaii
• I went to Alaska

Of course, lots of other things happened. Those are just a few of the things that stand out.

Stay tuned while many other things happen throughout my life.

Lots of Bricks

Last Saturday I got a wild burr up my butt and decided to finally start working on the brick pile. Brick pile, that's funny. Most people have a wood pile. But no, I must be different and have a brick pile.

Back to the wild burr! So you see I have this pile of bricks. The big pile still has mortar on them. But there are 2 small piles that don't. Those are the pile I want to use first.
Use for what you ask? Well, you see, I'm gonna line my driveway with brick. And I'm gonna make a path to my front door. And I'm gonna do this all with my Daddy's help. Part one, the driveway...
Back to last Saturday. Last Saturday I moved 5 wheel barrel loads full. I'm full, like super heavy and caused callouses. And I killed 6 black widows. Like, the venom from 6 black widows would have definitely killed me good. After the third load Dad came over. We figured out the plan and went to work.

And this is what we did in just a short time...
And this is the pile of bricks still left to use.
So if anyone is looking for something to do on a random weekend afternoon, give me a call. I've got bricks to chip and a path to pave.

I'm a slacker!

So I came onto my blog so I could show my aunt some pictures of the house. Only to realize that I don't have any recent ones.

Nothing of the back room all put together. Or of the dining area. Or, ah, well, just none that are up to date.

I'll take care of that when I get home.

Hanging Pictures

A couple weeks ago Mom and I went to IKEA. We love IKEA. Being that I knew I would have a guests over the course of a week I decided it was time to get things to make my place a little more...homey... Like maybe some pictures on the walls.

Blank, boring wall.
Being the genius that I am I traced the frames, then hung the traced papers to figure out a layout.
Only problem was the tape and wall paint didn't want to "bond". So I had to use a lot of tape. Kaitlin can attest to this. I was on the phone with her while I cussed at the paper for falling every 3 seconds.But alas, TADA! I got them all up. Only problem was that I wasn't happen with very many of the pictures on my computer. So I only had 2 printed for the 8 frames. Who cares! They are all hung, and some are still waiting for pictures! And there is room to grow and add more frames as they are needed.
I also got a picture to hang in the bathroom. See the blank, boring wall above the toilet?
How about now? Much better!And then I brought a picture over from my parent's house that I still needed to bring over. It's actually a picture that I took and developed when I took photography in college. Go me!
So...

TADA!

I bit the bullet!

Finally! I just did it. To heck with the heat. To heck with the sun. Actually the heat and sun helped a little.

I finally painted my dining table.

This table has been sitting outside for quite sometime now. With the sun beating down on it. And the weeds growing up around it (don't worry, I had it sitting on bricks). And the birds doing a fly by duty drop. But it ain't sitting out there no more.

After dinner I convinced my dad that I needed help bring it in, which I did, and that with it's new paint job it shouldn't sit outside any longer, which it shouldn't.

So yeah me! I finally did it. Weeks and weeks after I originally planned on it, but oh well, it's done.

Now to host a dinner party...

Oh the joys...

Of remodeling an older home. After years, and years, and years of not being used properly as a home, the plumbing pipes are a bit... plugged. There's some build up somewhere between the house and the street. Primarily focusing during the washing machine draining time.

I've been very fortunate. So far, water hasn't actually backed up and spilled over or ruined the flooring. That's my fear, gushing water all over the hard wood flooring. Not a good combination!

Problem is, I can't wash clothes and go to the bathroom at the same time. Well, I could go to the bathroom, just not flush. But that's just icky! And boy howdy, don't take a shower too! And I definitely cannot wash two loads in a row, one after the other.

You see, it all starts with bloop bloop blooping in the toilet. Then the bowl fills up with bubbles. (I could see there this could be kinda tripy for some...) Next thing you know the shower drain starts to make noise the bubbles and water start to slowly rise. And the water rises. And it rises. And I start to panic. Then I start madly plunging the drain. Only to realize that the motion of plunging is causing the water to move which is threating to gush over the edge. So I stop plunging. And I stand there in fear biting my nails. The at last, I can't take it anymore! I lift the lid on the washer to make it stop. After sometime, the water will go down. Then I put the lid down and let it finish.

Let me show you what happens...

First the toilet bloop, bloop, bloops and fills with water and bubbles. More bubbles than water.

Then the shower starts to fill. Notice it's not very high yet.

Starting to rise a little higher...

And it only starts to fill when the spin/drain cycle starts.

Now the water is high enough that almost empty bottles of stuff fall over and float. And this is how it will be for the next hour or so.

And Lordy, Lordy. Do not wash red rugs. I was minding my own business in the bathroom getting ready for a party. Mercy, if I didn't know that I was washing red rugs I would have feared for my life that one of the plagues was happening and that Revelations was coming true. I'm talkin' blood red water (with pink bubbles) came out of the drain.

Time to call Roto Rooter!

Roto Rooter Update (or other type plumber):
We were visited by a plumber late on Friday. And after much shoving things down holes and trying to clear the pipe, which some was, it was determined that roots were invading the main line. Stinkin' roots! After some himming and hawwing, we decided to let the plumber stick a camera down the main line to see how far in and how deep the exact location is. Well, it turns out that it is a majority of the pipe, about 48 feet worth. There was only one really bad root that we saw, but he pointed out many spots where they have poked through.

Hopefully, with what he cleared out I'll be able to have less problems temporarily.

So, anyone wanna help dig a long trench and install a main line...?

I know... I'm full of promises!

Finally I'm going to come through though. So this is how the house looks today, this evening, May 6th, whatever; the point is, I took the pictures just a few hours ago.

*Oops! Really, I took them yesterday. Today is now May 7th.*

Ok, here we go...!

Ooohhhh...pretty flowers... Notice the railing?

Now doesn't that look like a cute little house now? So, let's go inside!

I've got a joke for you. Me: Knock, knock. You: Who's there? Me: I eat mop. You:... well, you can figure it out...

The living room... Watch your step. It's a little messy right now.

The dining room... It's a little messy in here too.

The back bedroom... Yep, still messy.


The kitchen...

The utility closet... Yea, I know, the ugly doors are still there.

The front room... Nope, no bed yet, but the bed frame is put together.

Stay tuned. More to come later.