Finally some Furniture for our House!

We have finally purchased a piece of real furniture for our house (well, besides that big honkin' piano...). Here is what our couch looks like (and yes -the zebra print pillows are included!).

http://www.ashleyfurniture.com/Showroom/Showroom.aspx?PageId=Showroom&CategoryID=0&ItemNo=5450038&SetDomTab=4&SeriesNo=54500&CollectionId=&style=1&IsClicked=1&CatPageNumber=1&bFromSearch=Y&Keyword=5450038

Ta Da! Finally, Some Pictures of Our Kitchen!!

Well, after working on it for a year, here are some pictures of what my kitchen looks like. And we are still not finished! The door in picture # 3 needs to be primed and painted white - same color as the trim. A couple things are actually just primed and not painted. We'd also like to strip paint off the door knob and lock as well as the hinges on the door in picture # 4. There is a door that is on a built in cupboard (last picture) that needs to be repainted and put back, but I want to put chicken wire in place of where they used to have ugly painted plastic. You'll see when I'm done. :-)

By the way - do you see those lovely flowers? They are courtesy of my loving husband. He even picked them himself at his golf course.

Projects and More Projects

That seems to be the theme for the past year, and will probably be for several more! But some of these projects are small, so I haven't showed them to you! Well, here they are:

Clouds in the bathroom - I had to do something to make that popcorn ceiling pretty. Here are a couple views from the toilet...Stripping the drawers in the kitchen - Yummy. By the way, Citristrip works wonderful!!We cleaned the entry way! Yeay! Our Paint Cans have a home in our basement now!

How Many Millers Does it Take to Install A Ceiling Fan?

The answer is Two!

I started taking out the old light fixture in our "What will be the Office/Now Living Room". The previous homeowners left a couple ceiling fans they never installed, so we figured that with all this heat and lack of A/C it would be beneficial to our sanity to install them..Yeah. Right.
First, I found out that they had not only painted the old light fixture to the ceiling, but someone had also plastered in the old fixture box. We had to chip away at it with a razor knife for several hours, but we still managed to have lots of plaster fall down on top of us. Then it was Keith's turn, as he has more experience with electricity...wait. I take that back. HIS nickname isn't "Sparky." That is why he was in charge of the electrical components of this project. :-) (I have a knack for finding live wires...)So, he worked on installing the fan, while I made sure we followed instructions. This was on Day 2 of the project, as we had to get a medallion to cover the big cracks in the ceiling. Notice the sweat on my face - yeah. THAT is why I wanted this think installed, but figured we'd have it in before we hit probably the hottest day of the summer. The heat index was 113 degrees that day.But now if it ever gets hot again, we can just flip the switch and "poof" air is circulating!

Catching up!

I just realized I haven't written anything here for over a month. Oops.

Anyway, we've been busy finishing up the kitchen. I've got one good day of touching up paint, and some cleaning and I'll post some pictures. It looks absolutely beautiful! We've also just got some finishing touches on the bathroom ceiling. Perhaps I should finish that this afternoon and clean it, so you can at least see that! It's cute!

We've also been working on the outside of the house. I have some flowers in baskets on the porch, so it doesn't loook so bare and sad. And at least when you look at the porch, your eye goes to the flowers before the peeling paint... I'm quite disappointed, though, that I don't have any hummingbirds yet.

We have had several birds at our regular feeder. We've found that if we feed Safflower seeds, we keep the starlings away and the Cardinals love them. So do the house finches.

I think the birds are staying away from my garden! I've got a couple tomatoes (one of which is blooming), a couple pepper plants - one orange and I've already got a pepper started on the purple plant! My onions seem to be very happy, as well as my radishes! I am very surprised at my success so far, as Reed seems to be having problems getting stuff in his garden (it was a really wet spring) and it's my first year for the garden, and I dind't amend the soil at all. I have a compost bin started for this fall, though!

Our yard is looking better all the time! We sprayed the dandelions and Keith brought home a roller to flatten out the bumps. It looks much better now.

Here are some pictures of Katie, Sarah & J.T. They were taking on Memorial Day. I think they get cuter every day! J.T. has gotten so big! He is starting to say things, but we can't quite get him to say "Aunt Karen", let alone "Uncle Knucklehead." This past week, they have been busy picking Strawberries! Amberley has got quite a patch! I took a couple buckets full and made some freezer jam. YUMMY!

We've got internet!

Keith & I finally got internet this weekend. It's still very slow, but it is better than nothing. We've spent the past day or so updating our computers because we were so behind on everything!!

Well, I said I would have pictures up by Monday - hee hee. I didn't say WHICH Monday! I just haven't had time while I was at work, and a couple days I forgot the USB cable to hook my camera up to the computer. But here are pictures of the bathroom. We've still got to paint the ceiling and put up the molding around the top. We'll get that done after we're done with the kitchen. By the way - check out my caulking job! I have found a new talent!

We're still working on the kitchen. We got sick of painting (after 4 coats + 2 coats of primer) and finally went to another brand of paint. We are finishing that up this afternoon. Jesse, I think you've got us converted to Benjamin Moore paint. It's quite spendy (though I flirted with the guy at the paint store enough to give us a 10% discount on paint since we've got a lot of rooms left) but it's SOOOO worth it. Hopefully soon we'll get the trim done and I will have finished pictures!!!

Here's some pictures from JT's first birthday. What a cutie (though slightly messy in these pictures!)

Weather has been quite rainy down here, but no flooding, but this weekend was nice. Everybody's yard seems to be perking up - ours is, well, quite weedy and bumpy. We'll have to work on that some year, but I imagine it will be a couple before the yard looks halfway decent. We decided to start taking down the apple trees in our yard. They are in a weird spot and were never trimmed properly so they are diseased. They didn't give us any apples last year, so we don't know what kind they are. But after one cut, our chainsaw decided to poop out. Oops. I guess we've got a project for next weekend. :-)

Critters are doing OK. Ruthie is excited the weather is nice so she can play out side more. We've been watching the birds at our bird feeder. Just today we saw robins, pigeons, blackbirds, grackels, red-headed finches, chickadees and who knows what else. I need to get a bird book so I can figure out what they are... Hopefully the goldfinches will be here soon. Randy is also watching them out our windows. And speaking of Randy, someone feels bad that the doll house I used as a kid isn't being used any more. Or maybe he likes the color pink. ??

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know I said I would put these up on MOnday - but since we're down to only 2 CSRs here, things have been extremely busy at work - I haven't had much time to do anything fun! But I have a couple minutes elft of my lunch break. Here is what I came home to last Friday after work...To make a long story short, Keith wanted to "fix the plumbing" and it then accidentally progressed into a bathroom remodeling project. Oh well. It gave us an opportunity to get a new faucet for the shower and fit the caulking the previous people had done. We also found out the guy who had done it was kind of a moron (big surprise, as we've seen plenty of other examples of his "handiwork" around the house...)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, in case I don't get a chance to tell you! We are going to have a big dinner at Keith's sister's house. Keith's mom & step-dad are coming to IL as well, so it will be nice to spend time with them as well. We won't be going to MN since we were just up there for my grandmother's funeral. Though it was for a sad reason, we got to visit with a lot of family and visit my friends, Stacy & Loni! :-)

We found out we are getting countertops installed December 6th. We've got a little bit of work before then, mostly just getting the plumbing ready and finish painting. Keith installed my range on Saturday. I made my first baked good - a super delicious apple spice cake with caramel swirl buttercream frosting. It was YUMMY. But apparently, not good enough to win our office's silly baking contest - by the way, hamballs & scalloped potatoes won. (Mom, your scalloped potatoes are better!!!). I think the whole contest was not fair due to the whole weight watcher crew around here!!! Anyway, I baked. It took me forever to find out where I put stuff (when I packed to move, I just shoved crap in boxes and hauled it upstairs...), but I did it. :-)

Big changes!

So....I've been lazy about putting new pictures up for you to see. Though maybe it's because I want to keep you in suspense. :-)

Anyway, we've got up 2 coats of primer and a coat of paint, installed the cabinets and Keith has got my light installed!! We've got our countertop ordered (I can't believe we are getting the granite - don't worry - it was on sale, so it was actually cheaper than solid surface stuff!) . Here are some pictures of us painting & Keith impersonating the garbage disposal.

And...ta da! Here is your first look at our cabinets! I'm so excited. I can't wait to use them! Now that I look at the photo, I don't have our light fixture in there! I'll guess you'll just have to wait to see that!

It's like Christmas!

This weekend we "moved" - we're still technically not moved out of the little yellow house (lots of stuff still there..) but we are sleeping and 'eating' in "The Big House." Notice I said eating - and not necessarily preparing meals! We have set up a temporary "snack room" as the nieces call it. And Monday we received our appliances so we at least have a fridge and microwave now! I think I am going to LOVE my microwave! I made a breakfast sandwich in it this morning - and much better texture than the one I made in our other microwave. Lots of magical buttons on it, as well as the "Turbo Fan." Man, you can almost dry your hair with that sucker...

And our fridge should be wonderful, as well. I have told myself not to think about the stove, because that will just make me want to bake! I can't wait until I pop out that first pie!! (Haven't decided what kind to make first, though - apple, cherry, pumpkin?) Oh and the dishwasher. What Dishwasher? You mean that thing in the box that I'm keeping hidden from view? :-P The cool thing about our stove, though, is that it was dented in the rear bottom right corner. We got yet another 10% off for keeping it! Yeay! (And no one will ever know because it will be hidden by cabinets.)

I'm back!

Hello, folks!

No, I haven't been ignoring you - just busy with the house and work. I got to get out of the office this week. Flew to Dallas by way of San Antonio on Sunday. Visited with a major customer of mine on Monday. Monday night I flew to NW Arkansas (and no, I didn't see any hillbillies!) so Tuesday I could meet with a couple more "chicken pluckers" that use our products. Wednesday, took a 6:00 a.m. flight (YUCK!) to Atlanta, met with a couple more customers and then flew out of Nashville, TN Thursday morning...

So, yeah. I'm a little tired, but had a great time and learned a lot about the poultry industry, since that's what most of my customers in that area do.

Keith was left at home, but he got a lot done on the house. Look what I came home to - DRYWALL! He's got a little bit to get finished, but we've started mudding a little bit. These pictures are current as of last night.

Also, we had been working on trying to get the living room painted so we can get the piano moved in. However, we came to a problem. Ceiling took awhile, but it's done (after three coats of paint and one of primer). Then, when priming the wall, part of it started to bubble - basically where the previous owners had screwed the t.v to the wall (and left a big gaping hole for me to patch). After looking at it, I tried to find where the "bubble" ended, but ended up peeling the latex paint off like a fruit-rollup off it's waxy wrap thing. Not good! I did some research, and I guess when the previous owners took the wall paper off the wall, they exposed the plaster covered with calcamine paint.

Back in the day, you had to let the plaster 'cure' for 30 days or so before you could paint it. Using this calcamine paint (made from calcium carbonate/limestone), they could paint it right away. However, not much sticks to it and reacts to water. The only way to REALLY get rid of it is to scrape off all the paint and scrub the walls with TSP. We're going to try to just do it in that one location and then maybe go over it with an oil based primer (?). Anyway, we've decided that we're just going to shift our focus on the kitchen and maybe move the piano to a temporary spot in another room until we get that problem solved.

By the way - that hospital green color is the primer, the actual paint color will be much more pleasant. :-)

But we're hoping to move this weekend. We're getting our appliances on Monday! Yeay!! Not that I'll really be able to use the stove or the dishwasher...but I have them.

House Update

Here are some pictures we took last night. Keith framed the door in last week and even did it the right way by putting in the header! (By the way, Mom & Dad - if you see Lynn Tienter, please tell him "Thank you" for me! :-) He taught Keith how to do most of this stuff). But we just need to level out the floor where the cabinets go (to make up for the wood flooring, the five layers of linoleum and the Pergo on the rest of the floor...) and electrical stuff and we should be set to drywall!

And in the living room, I've been working on the walls. They are plaster and someone made LOTS of drippies ALL over the stinkin' walls and where they filled in the cracks, they left big marks. So I'm sanding them out and filling in the big holes. I am sooooo sick of sanding! That is all I have been doing to the past week.

At its worst, we hope...

Here's what we think is the kitchen at what we think is its worst point. There's a little more destruction yet to do, but not a whole lot. We've got the old cabinets out - we'll see if we can salvage them for the garage or somewhere. Karen tore down almost all of the drywall that's missing from the lathe!

Keith of course, being the man, gets to use the saw.

Last night we even discovered square nails and some funky wall paper!

We've got our house!

Hey there. After over a month of dealing with the seller's mortgage company, we finally closed on our house Friday, August 17th. It's just a couple blocks from where we live now, but at least twice as big. Who knows what we'll do with all of that space, but eventually we'll think of something. For the time being, we're going to block off the upstairs and not heat it this winter (except for our bedroom).

We've got some work ahead of us (as you can see from the photos...), but the big things are taken care of - new roof in '01, new super-efficient furnace in '01, new windows in the past couple years. Anyway, I hope this link will work - there are some pictures we took this weekend before we started doing any work. I took more, but I guess there's a storage limit on free accounts, so I'm going to save some room for more!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11787633@N02/

Our first project is obviously the kitchen. We're fixing that weird doorway situation and putting in new white cabinets, painting the walls Red Dahlia and I think dark brown countertops. We've already done some demolition, and hopefully we can get a new door in there soon (that back room is unheated).