#75

Yeah I have been slacking. Our trip was good. We saw family, friends, ate lots of food, and didn’t spend a dime (other than on bandaids and Craig’s present). So it was a good weekend. It was also incredibly hectic. I felt like we never really sat still for very long. The flights were pretty good- full of people, but not terribly bumpy. I get a little more nervous each time I fly. I don’t know why that is. We saw Iron Man, which was pretty awesome. The movie was great, and I might watch it again should Alann buy it when it comes out. (I don’t usually watch movies more than once, with the exception of Fight Club and Monty Python’s Holy Grail. But then a year or two goes by between viewings, so it is like seeing it again for the first time.) We went to the Cardinal’s game. I am not a big fan of professional sports, but it wasn’t terrible. We left just as the sun started to really beat on me, so I didn’t even get sunburned (unlike last time). I got to hold Ginny’s boy Bruce at the reception. Multiple people thought he was mine. That’s what I get for holding children. It was fun though. He’s quite a cutie. We spent most of Sunday watching HGTV, which means lots of motivation to work on the house. We also saw a show where the realtors ask how much people spent on stuff and we spent WAY less than most people, and our improvements look quite decent I think.
This weekend we are going to plant a new front lawn. Yay! We will probably be finishing the yard in small stages- this weekend the majority of the work and expense will be done, and then sometime next month we will finish with planting some shrubs, moving the rose bushes to the back yard (they just don’t like the front) and filling in with gravel and mulch. It should be a lot of fun. I will definitely have to post pictures come fall when our lawn is nice and filled in. We have to pull out the old crappy crap, finish the border, put in some stepping stones. The works.
Then after the yard is done, we have our sights set on the full bath. We bought a new vanity at quite a discount. Now Alann wants to tile the floor. So basically, we will rip out everything that hasn’t previously been ripped out (meaning the toilet and vanity, not the tub), lay new flooring, sand and paint the walls (I think I have an awesome color picked out), then reinstall and it will be done! It sounds huge, until you realize that our bathroom is 6’ wide by maybe 10’ deep. Not a whole lot of floor to be laid.
Then maybe we will FINALLY finish the kitchen. It really is my goal to not hit two years with a half-done kitchen. Thanksgiving marks two years. There isn’t much there. Repair the floor, paint the walls, finish the moulding, fix the cracks in the ceiling where the old cabinets used to be and the new ones don’t quiiiiiiiite cover.
Then maybe my tiny little half bath. We are planning (hoping really) to put the vanity from the full bath into the half bath. But we have yet to measure it, so I don’t know if that will work out. This might be a major project. We need to pull out the toilet and vanity, tear out the walls (I say out with all of it! Plaster and nasty paneling!), put the new medicine cabinet in (going on a year of it sitting in the garage, but it was a steal at 10% of original price), slap up some drywall, paint, reinstall the fixtures, put an access door in to get to the bath plumbing, and possibly do some flooring. It is black and green vinyl tile. Of course, I only see it when I clean, because my (normal sized) bath mat takes up all the floor space. We are seriously talking two, maybe three sheets of drywall for the whole bathroom. That’s how tiny it is. So maybe there will be enough left over flooring from full bath that we can tile mine too. Oh, I almost forgot. I want to install shelves. There is this sad little “closet” in the bathroom right now. I would love to put in shelves and maybe a little sliding door on the bottom to make a cabinet (to keep el gato out and keep my toilet paper safe from her claws). The house doesn’t really lack storage, at least as far as linen closets go, but it would be nice to at least make the space seem useful. Plus you never know what the next owner will want. That extra storage may be enough to make someone say “this house has so much storage. I’ll buy it! Triple the price” (Yeah, I can dream if I want to.)
And some day, I would really like some doors on the hall closet. Right now it is “open to the elements” which is a nice way of saying that it collects enough dog hair to create a new dog. All of my sheets and bedding have to be in plastic to keep them safe. Plus, assuming we ever get to this point, I can imagine some little superman trying to climb the shelves and breaking his head in the process.
And we can’t forget the blue room. That one is pretty much on standby until the time comes that it is needed. It will become the nursery if we need it, but until then, it will stay cold, and blue. When we tackle that room, we need to put in some insulation and put up new drywall. We could seriously hang meat in that room. Then paint. Lots and lots of paint. I am pretty sure we will need to Kilz what doesn’t get covered with drywall, just to cover up all the blue. And the closet door could stand to be replaced, or at least improved. I’m thinking a real doorknob would be fabulous.
The office is a nightmare. I would love to rip out the paneling and make the closet more usable. Right now it is a thin little curtain rod being held up with plumbers strap (you know, the long thin metal thing with holes in it). A real curtain rod and some drywall would make it spiffy. You can see the framing. It was obviously an addition. But we might not ever get to this room.
I won’t even go into the plans for the back yard. I think for now, as much as I would love to just pay off debt, I know that we need to also work on the house. So for the summer at least, I think we will make the minimums on the debt, but save/use some of the “excess” to work on the house. I know it will return to me when we sell it. I also know that come winter, we won’t want to do projects, and can then safely put everything to the debt, after hopefully finishing out at least a few projects. Those are my plans anyway.
And the tomatoes just might pull through. They have some leaves growing again.