rest in peace Sooty

We lost our kitty Sooty today.
I've blogged about her before . She's been with us for two years this month. We're horribly sad.

Halloween at work

We dressed up for Halloween at work this year...with some pretty funny results! Check it out!
(make sure you click on the picture to see the video)

Bathroom - before & after, but mostly after

I forgot to take pictures of the bathroom before we got started. All we did in here was add some crown molding and paint it red. I painted it on the weekend while Andy was on a trip. It was a bright turquoise blue, which I might have liked in different circumstances - but it didn't match well with the colors on the rest of the floor. I know a red bathroom is hardly an original idea, but I like it! This is how it looked for - oh about 2 months. We had bigger fish to fry. I think we scared a few people though - the wall looks like it is bleeding!

Nursery Renovation

This story begins last spring. Our master bedroom was finally done, and we were ready to begin work on another bedroom in the basement. We call it the nursery, because it is the smallest of the 3 bedrooms in the house. We started with a room that seemed to be in ok condition...on the surface...(click on any of the pics for a big view)
Some of the biggest beefs we had with this room:

1. A low ceiling, made worse by gas and water pipes that snaked across the ceiling - casting shadows that made room very dim and dark. yucky blue carpet.

2. a broken old light fixture that was so low you could walk into it. Two level floor- which although cool in concept, was creaky and unstable, plus inconvenient in such a small room.

3. cold, drafty windows. A closet with broken doors, no storage space and scary open holes for access to the water main (not pictured - ugh)

4. Perhaps the worst though, was the horror that was behind this built out corner. On the other side of this room is the laundry. Rather than putting the dryer vent through the concrete, they decided to just run it through the glass block window - stuffing the hole with duct tape and framing around their jimmy-rigged contraption. It was disgusting, drafty, and a welcoming spot for spiders of every sort.
This is the view from the other side- After it had been mostly cleaned up - - DISGUSTING!
We went back and forth over whether to try and fix the problems or to just gut the room and start over. In the end, we decided to start with a clean slate.Andy broke everything in the room down and fed it through the window. We then began the process of rebuilding the room from scratch. This meant moving major water lines & gas pipes, framing, insulating, wiring the electrical, putting in new windows, levelling the floor, adding recessed lighting, building a new closet, drywalling and the list goes on. Andy worked on it every spare minute he had (and there weren't many of those- he flew A LOT this summer).

After a few months we finally seemed to be making some progress.

Then came the finish work - making the closet:

installing the recessed lighting:

adding some wood panelling and prepping for paint.
We spent two days trying different paint colors, and finally settled on (what i hope is) a gender neutral blue. We installed new doors, finished the closet - had the carpet laid and ....

Finally (almost) done! I was going to wait until we were completely finished to post this, but I felt bad putting up that teaser so long ago. We have just a few finishing touches left - installing the blinds, painting the door and some other small things.

Once again I am amazed at my crafty husband for whipping this up in his (almost nonexistent) spare time. He really hasn't come across a home improvement job that he can't do. Also, I know we both want to thank the friends and family who helped us, lent us tools, trucks, advice and ideas. We're so happy with the results of this project!

Coming up soon: bathroom , backyard fence & garage pictures plus the strange incident of the white puffs.....

JJ Cole Warehouse sale

My summer vacation....

I haven't been doing much blogging lately...mostly because we've been busy with work and projects. We have major renovations going on in - 1. the backyard 2. the downstairs bedroom 3. hallway/stairway/entry and 4. upstairs bathroom.

Why did we start so many projects at the same time? Good question :)

#1 was kind of forced on us (more on that later) # 2 we started way back in spring, , #3 snuck up on us during # 2 and # 4 well, you can blame that one on me.

Anyway, we have some KILLER before and after photos coming up in the next few weeks. We've been working so hard all summer, hoping to finish most of the big stuff so we can take the winter OFF! Of course, we have more projects planned but they will have to wait for 2010. Really, it's embarrassing when the employees at Home Depot start calling you by your first name. A few more projects and they'll be renaming the lumber aisle in our honor.

When Missy is gone, Andy is forced to...

go grocery shopping. I was in Las Vegas for work recently. I was gone for a week, and so busy leading up to it, that I didn't get a chance to go shopping before I left. I felt bad leaving Andy short on supplies but I figured he could deal.

The first laughs started when I began getting texts one night.
"What the heck is up with the bread aisle there are too many, how do you pick?"
I thought of him wandering around the store, lost and hungry.
I laughed.

When I got home I found his little shopping list on the counter. I would scan in a picture but the scanner's broken, so here it is:

milk (the stinker bought 2% - I've had him on skim for 3 years now!)
ice cream
chocolate saucey (not a typo)
noodles
mac & cheese
applesauce
sandwich (?)

such a sad little list. (snort, giggle)

But that wasn't even the best part. For a long time now I've been bugging Andy about leaving his cereal bowls around the house. Drives me crazy. I came home to find one single bowl, washed and dried on the counter. He explained this by saying "I realized that there is no need for me to be using tons of bowls, I can just wash and reuse the same one, so there are less dishes"

DING DING DING DING - WE HAVE A WINNER HERE FOLKS!

Grumble, grumble

What is going on with the weather? First it rained almost every day in June. Now here we are 7 weeks later and it feels like October here in Logan. Cold nights, mild days. Is this really it? Were those 7 warm weeks all the summer we are going to get this year???

I wish these people would move in next door

I saw this clip on the blog Becoming Something.

We went to Arcata, CA last night

Andy says he wants to live there. The weather is perfect he says. I can't live there. This is what my hair thinks of the weather by the sea:
and no, I haven't suffered from a recent electrocution. I think he might have decided purely from the fact that some dumb sap let his raspberry bush grow over the fence. Andy spotted it from 500 yards and was on it like a pack of dogs on a 3 legged cat (name that comedian):
Anyway, I guess I could live in Arcata, if we could move in here:
The original owner of this 19th century mansion made his wealth by stripping the local forests of their trees. The street is now lined with Toyota Priuses parked by organic, fair trade, shade grown coffee shops. Mr. Lumber is rolling in his grave.