Totally unexpectedly, I just got laid off from my job. Who needs a web designer?

We finally got something to adorn our bedroom wall so we have something beautiful to look at instead of a blank wall. The painting is a canvas print reproduction of The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse. We both love it and find it fits in very well with the colors in the room. It is the right balance of interesting and beautiful to keep from getting old after staring at it for years. Jules’ family has the same painting at home and he has always loved it. (I’m aware that the dimensions are not true to the original, but we also didn’t pay an arm and a leg for it so I’m not going to complain!)

Last week Jules and I took off work so we could spend time with our friends visiting from out of town. We had several different gatherings with friends here in Seattle and took many trips to touristy destinations. Jon and Dave spent a great deal of time helping us with various electric-related issues we’d had with the house (which were beyond Jules’ and my expertise.) Now we have a basement light *and* a back porch light that we can actually turn off, an outlet where there were exposed live wires (which I have caught Roscoe *chewing* on before, for crap’s sake!), a clean bathroom fan, two vent covers where there were previously none, and a pretty new lightswitch cover for Nathaniel’s room. (We also discovered that the sunroom is on the same breaker as the furnace (what?) even though we had the panel totally rewired only a few months ago. The electricians must have missed that one.) Brian was only here for essentially two days so unfortunately he didn’t get much of a chance to see the things he was interested in as we were constantly driving to and from the airport (for a total of 8 trips.) It would have been nice if he got to stay a bit longer.

The guys helped Jules with his arcade cabinet and he was able to finish the control panel to a point where it is playable outside the context of the full cabinet (it is designed to be a fully removable, modular unit.) Evidently the wiring wasn’t too tricky and he was able to do most of it without help.

Both of us are still exhausted from all that excitement. Funny how vacations always seem to leave you more tired than refreshed.

Everyone in our household is now making an attempt to exercise more and eat less. There have been some positive results so far but it hasn’t been easy for some individuals… DDR and walks in the park have been helpful, as has green tea. Yum!

Proof that the zombie marketing team has taken control of Home Depot’s packaging division. What horrors lie in store for us next?

On Tuesday (Jules’ and my second anniversary!) I was having a chat with my dad about all the changes we’ve made to the house and he mentioned wishing he could see the differences. Since my parents live in Wisconsin and farm, they haven’t made it out to see the place yet, so I decided to do some “before and after” photos! Some of the angles aren’t exactly the same and some contain the previous owners’ stuff, but you’ll get the general idea.

We have sure accomplished a lot in the last 8 months! Click the following link to see the photos:

Read the rest of this entry »

Gardens are growing strong! We’ve had a few salads from the lettuce and spinach, which have been really tasty. Pretty good for a first attempt. Jules spent the weekend working on his cabinet again and I touched up the basement entryway. (Still have to paint the borders.) We also looked at some more houses with Nat. One of them had an incredible old heater. We failed to put in a new lock/handle set in the front door due to a broken inner component, so we’ll be returning that to Home Depot tonight.

Trying to get as much done this week as we can before the guys arrive and we get a week off work. Very excited!

We have been so crazily busy lately but hopefully things will be slowing down a bit soon. Jules has been working on his arcade cabinet a lot (and doing a marvelous job!) while I’ve been painting and painting. I am hoping to get the in-progress rooms finished before Dave, Jon, and Brian arrive next week so I am working extra hard! Both Jules and I are very much looking forward to having a week off work while they visit!

Aside from painting, we’ve been taking care of quite a few other house-related items. The house is starting to feel like our own now! Very exciting. I am exhausted though, and starting to feel a bit burnt out, especially on the painting front. I really enjoy it while I’m working on it but my body is so worn out! Once I finish the basement entrance area I will take a break for awhile before tackling the remaining rooms.

• I finally created a “Mans” plaque for the downstairs bathroom, which has been on my to-do list since before we actually owned the house. Quite pleased with the result, even though we had to employ some strange methods to get it to happen.
• On Memorial Day, Nat, Jules and I put “Pet Screens” in the sliding doors of the sunroom so we can leave the doors open to give the house more fresh air. Prior to this day, only one door had a screen (the others were inexplicably cut from the frames!) and the screen that was there was the standard aluminum mesh which the kitties were quickly destroying with their claws. The pet screens are STRONG and thick and have a texture that doesn’t appeal to the cats so they do not try to claw at it. Looks like our ridiculously hard work getting the screens in place was worth it! (The spline we had, although recommended for that weight of screen, was probably a bit too large in the end, and it took us about 4 hours to finish the project.)
• We hung new red velvet curtains between the columns separating the office area from the entertainment area. It now looks like a movie theatre and the sound is much better.
• We finally got a few photos printed from the wedding and other fun times and cleaned out Target’s supply of 5×7″ frames.
• Nat and Jules removed the pathetic lighting fixture from the living room ceiling and put in a new ceiling fan with lights which *finally* properly illuminate the room. It is so lovely being able to *see* in there at night! The fan also really helps the airflow between the sunroom and living room (which only has three small windows to allow fresh air in.)

And now for non-house-related things…

The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we threw a small party at our place. Well, we had intended it to be small, but it grew out of control. Everyone had a lovely time and much beer and food was consumed. All of the chips I bought were finished by the end of the party, which if you know me and the way I prepare for parties, is quite the statement.

The following day were were all a bit hungover, so naturally we went househunting with Nat. We found ourselves in Seward Park, which was absolutely gorgeous. We ate some Phở and spent the afternoon recuperating. Nice.

Bobby came to visit Nat last weekend and the weather was gorgeous.

Last night I got my copy of EA Sports Active. I like it a lot more than Wii Fit and I feel great today. :D I can’t wait until our schedule is normal enough that I can incorporate exercise into it again. I’ve been using the housework as exercise for about two months and it’s not enough. I miss exercise!

The gardens are coming along great. The lettuce and spinach is ready to eat and the strawberry plants have small fruit forming. The potato and tomato plants are HUGE. Lots of bees, bugs, and birds coming to visit now. It’s a good first attempt!

Emily is now using the litter box properly and has only had one mishap since finishing her medicine.

We should be completely free of credit card debt after next paycheck. Woo!

The house painting is coming along quite nicely. The sunroom is now nearly complete, just some detail touch-up around the massive windows. Last Sunday Jules and I struggled through painting the stairwell, which was easily the worst painting experience I’ve had thus far. The space is tall and narrow and there was little room for us to maneuver around each other with the super long extension handles. We also nearly ran out of paint as we had only bought a single gallon. I haven’t done the borders or touchups yet so it looks a bit unfinished but we’re mostly happy with it considering how tricky it was. I’m really hoping to have the painting complete by the time the guys come visit in mid-June. Should be doable.

We made a trip to Ikea to get a few things for the new space, including some lucky bamboo plants, a new green futon cover, and bookshelf for the sunroom, and a lowboy dresser for the bedroom. Quite happy with the purchases, and they were not very expensive. Plus, they ALL fit in the car! Go hatchback.

I spent part of the afternoon on Saturday pulling up weeds and moss from the pavers in the backyard (got about 1/6 done, hoping to get the rest done this week), then we brought out the patio furniture and set it up next to the gardens (which are coming along very nicely!) We had a lovely outdoors dinner of grilled chicken wings and fries and enjoyed the perfect weather. It was so beautiful and peaceful despite the sounds of the firemen working out in the firehouse 2 buildings down. (They sure love to shout.)

Absolutely love living here!

Here’s Emily helping me paint the sunroom.

Poor Emily has a bladder infection. She’s been peeing outside the litterbox a lot lately so we took her into the vet and they found E.coli in her urinalysis. So now she’s on some antibiotics which will hopefully help. Poor darling, she hates going in the cat carrier and always gives us the 3-hit combo in the car.

I was sore and exhausted from a long week of work and previous weekends of painting so I didn’t do as much this weekend. I managed to get the baseboards painted white and get some touchups done at the ceiling/wall join. Even taking it “easy” I still managed to remain exhausted by the end of the day.

Got to talk to both Mom and Mum this weekend for mother’s day, which was really nice. Been so busy the last few months that I haven’t taken a break to chat much. Hopefully things will wind down a bit after the painting is complete and my life can be a bit more “normal” again.

This is going to sound a bit silly after the previous post, but we recently went to Home Depot and bought 19 gallons of new paint. Wait, hear me out. Behr was offering a rebate of $5 off any 1 gallon bucket for a week in April so we jumped on it. We really wanted to paint several rooms in the house but unfortunately not with any of the colors the previous owners had left! So we planned out the *correct* amount of paint needed to take care of our bedroom, the sunroom, the stairwell, upstairs hallway, downstairs entryway, laundry room, and downstairs bathroom. Quite an undertaking but one I am more than happy to tackle.

Last week I painted the bedroom which turned out a lovely shade of rich milk chocolately red-brown. None of the photos I have taken thus far have been able to even get close to the actual color, but it is very nice. We are both glad to be able to sleep in our bed in our room again after three nights in the middle of the living room. The one downside to the bedroom paint is that the texture on the walls make it seem shinier than it should so it looks like the specularity of the room has been turned up. It won’t be so bad when we can get a painting to cover the wall opposite the bed. Otherwise very pleased with how it turned out.

This weekend I took on the sunroom, which turned out to be a much bigger project than I expected. After three days of hard work I still have touch ups and trim left to do. The number of windows in the room created so many more nooks and crannies than I thought possible so it took about twice as long to do those areas with a small roller and brush. I am quite happy with the color and am positive the room will just glow once I get everything cleaned up properly. I estimate another 1-2 days of work to get it finished. It’s certainly a huge improvement over the seafoam green and terracotta/salmon walls and biscuit ceiling that it was just a day ago! I am so glad to have a fresh, beautiful color in there.

I have reaffirmed that I do love painting more than anything else even if it’s just the walls of the house and not a canvas. :D I am so exhausted but very happy today.