Lawn's Away!

Great news!

Mike talked to Nick Mitchell yesterday after work. Turns out he'd been to our house yesterday. And boy did he give us a super price. Super Duper. And I don't normally use that phrase.

This is what they're gonna do:

* Grade the entire yard so it's silky (er... sandy) smooth. This means taking off 3inches of soil off the backyard.

* Put down 3 inches of loam over the entire yard. (No more fear of walking on broken glass/nails/garbage in the yard!)

* Spread out said loam all nicely - just like the rich people's lawns!

* Hydro-Seed the entire yard with a special "Guaranteed-to-Grow" formula.

All this for the low low price of $2400. That includes materials AND labor. And that's a super duper deal. We're basically getting the labor for free. Of course, Mike would always be on hand if they needed any mechanical work in the future. These guys always trade off in labor, which is too cool in my opinion.

Nick said they'd come and do the job either tomorrow, Monday, or Tuesday. Wouldn't that be awesome? I am so excited. Grass... lawn... what a concept. It's worth every penny.

Down & Lazy

It has been raining for days. Stupid Nor'Easter. It's really got me feeling down... and lazy! Saturday was the last good day I had.

But let me start back on Friday. I had the pleasure of getting out of work early, so went home and primed one entire exterior wall of the garage. It looks really good, although it took an entire gallon of cover-all primer for two coats. (The formerly blue painted garage really needed two coats to cover that old smelly color.) I could have painted more on Saturday, but I didn't want to spend any more money. Not even on a little 'ol gallon of paint.

I figure if I buy a gallon every week and keep doing one wall at a time, the whole thing will be primed in no time. And then comes the actual paint part. It's going to be an off white with green shutters. That's my color scheme goal on the house too. So for a little while it's going to look pretty unmatched - a blue house and a white garage with green shutters. But oh well. It'll look a heck of a lot better than a blue house with a really run down gross ew disgusting garage.

Back to Saturday. We called early to see if we could burn and spent the remainder of the day by the fire, putting in all the branches we could pull out from the yard and the hole. (Yes, our far backyard is a hole - not just a Sh*t hole, an actual hole.) It was a little frustrating because I really wanted to get more accomplished inside the house. But with our neighbors still working on the drywall and us low on cash, there was nothing we could do.

Near the end of the day we pulled out a few stumps - making our stump pile officially huge and eyesoric. I think in the coming weeks we'll just throw all the stumps in the truck and take 'em away. Because we've got at least 10 and they take forever to burn - if they burn at all!

After the stumps, I made Mike call our friend Nick Mitchell - landscaping/excavating/etc extraordinaire - to get an estimate on loam/spreading loam/hydroseed for the entire yard - front, back, side EVERYTHING. I don't know if we'll be able to afford the whole thing, but I don't want to miss my spring window of opportunity to get grass. Especially with all this rain we've been having. It's probably the perfect time right now.

Hopefully, Nick will be able to come take a look at the yard soon. He was supposed to come on Sunday and then Monday - but he didn't, so Mike will probably stop by his house to see what's up today or tomorrow.

I know it seems like we got a lot accomplished, but I was still feeling a little gray at the end of Saturday. Sunday was a waste. Monday I didn't get any work done, but the neighbors were back to work on the drywall in the evening. They said they could come back on Thursday for the last coat and sand... or maybe it's just sanding, which would be awesome because I'd love to paint all weekend and then spend next week on the wood floor/getting the upstairs back to normal.

Ah normal. What a foreign concept!

And Now For The Office

I've been on blog-hiatus whilst going nuts at work. But never fear, work at home never stops... Well, I should say stuff to do never stops.

But we have been making major progress once again. After finishing the bedroom, it took us a week to move all the furniture out of the office and into the bedroom and put down the subfloor plywood in the office. This picture shows us at our halfway point in the plywood.

Tuesday and today, our neighbors have come to work on the drywall. This room is much easier than the bedroom - fewer problems. But I'm still going to repaint the whole thing anyway.

You see, I really thought I'd love a pink office - but when it comes right down to it - it's too girly for me! Plus, I want something warmer than the ice pink. Something feminine but not so girly if you know what I mean. And since I have to paint anyway - may as well repaint like I want. Also - I want to bring down the ceiling like I did in the bedroom by painting the upper slant white.

So if you look sideways (sorry, forgot to flip the pic) You can see the current paint and the closet. I don't think I'm going to do the color blocks again either - just because I found that it limits me in where I can hang pictures. And again, I thought I'd like that - but I like to have the flexibility to change my mind at will.

Have ya noticed? HA!

Anyway, hopefully the guys will be done with the drywall early next week and at that point we'll prime and paint.

Now, you'd think the next step after that would be the floor - but actually we have to put in our stair railing and all that because it attaches to the floor joists - not just the floor. Which is just as well, because the stairway (which opens up into the office) really needs to get railed. hee hee.

Anyways - So

100% refund for the bad nailer. YAY!

A Case of Mis-Stapler Identity

Ok - first you'll see on your left, a pic of my truck after a night of awesome mud-action. Beautiful, isn't it? Couldn't resist showing you all.

Second - I'd like to thank everyone for their help and suggestions on where the heck to purchase a nailer - which were Awesome by the way. Some stuff I would have never thought of... like pawn shop.

But, there's a twist to this story that Mike and I did not expect. And now I'm going to tell all 'yalls about it.

Thursday night, Mike laid down the first few rows - face nailing, then pre-drilling through the tongue and hand hammering with finish nails. Then, he did a couple with the nailer. (As you guys know from previous posts.) Well - the nailer wasn't doing a great job. It seemed to be set up for 3/4 hardwood instead of 3/8.

Friday, Mike and I got together, talked to TJ, our carpenter, and asked for his advice on it. He told us that a stapler would probably do a better job for us than the nailer. So, we decided to check out Home Stupid DeepHo and see what they had for staplers. And lucky for us there was a guy in the rental dept. who actually had 1/2 a brain. (Annoying as hell because he thought he had a full brain...I was thinking the whole time, just shut up dude - stop talking.)

Anyway, 3/8 hardwood actually requires a specialty stapler. The nailer we had been using was only designed for 3/4. (So at that point I'm psyched I didn't buy a nailer anywhere.) We asked if we could purchase the specialty stapler, but the dude said no - it was too much of a specialty item for the store to carry and very expensive. He may have just been trying to lure us into renting the thing - but whatever.

So we gritted our teeth and rented the thing for a day. (At least I could put it on my DeepHo card - it was about 30 something bucks.) And we figured we'd bring the other nailer back to United Rentals on Sat and bitch them out until they gave us a full refund - or at least a refund of 6 days. Because we barely used the thing.

So - I say "so" too much. Have you noticed? "So" and "Anyways"

Anyways, so we get back home from the DeepHo with the stapler & some staples. And boy what a difference! That thing worked awesome! I laid out and cut the planks and Mike did the stapling. We might have finished Friday night, but I was pooped. We were more then halfway done by 9:30/10:00 though.

Saturday morning we got up early and drove 20 min to return the bad nailer in Hyannis. Well - guess who's not open on Saturdays anymore? United Rentals! Those bastards still had the Saturday hours posted on their door too. We were so pissed. Hopefully this morning Mike went there and gave them a little bit of hell - because we definitely shouldn't have to pay the weekend rental. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Upon returning home (see, I didn't say "so") we got right back to work. And the floor was done by early afternoon. It took us some time to do the cutouts by the closet and end the room - but all in all - it was an easy and straightforward install that turned out beautifully. Oh - the color I chose by the by was Aztec cherry I believe, from Lumber Liquidators Casa De Colour series. (By Durawood - 25 year warranty, 3/8 of course as you know.)

As soon as we finished the floor we were in the truck headed back to the DeepHo to return the gun. And, while we were there, we decided to purchase all the floor moulding (while the room's cleared out) and also crown moulding for our loft storage space. (We still need window moulding, but that can come later.)

So, here's the Sunday pics when everything was done. (Sunday we didn't work - it's Mike's ATV-riding-with-the-guys-Day and my day to do girly things.) Take a look at how the painting turned out - I put on the final coat while Mike was measuring and cutting the moulding. (Which is still drying in our basement from staining by the way - that we'll put on this week at some point.)

Ok - so here's the Before Pic - all in primer.













And Here's the after pic. It's a little hard to tell just how awesome it looks just from these pics. But you'll have to trust me on that. You see, previously, I had painted the upper slant red too and just left the flat part where the recessed lights are white. I think this way though looks much better.
And here you can see the closet loft storage area moulding - we stained that right on the wall, hens the blue tape. It needs one more coat, but you get the idea. And also, you can see my beautiful closet organizer, in once again. That red thing on the top shelf is Dracu-Bear. He rocks and sucks... your blood that is.

Wrong Again?!

Alright, so remember yesterday I thought, "Mike must have bought the nailer because $200 is waaaay too much for rental."

Wrong.

$160 for a week and then he got $40 worth of nails. Do you know how much it costs to purchase one at Home Depot? I do - we went and looked yesterday evening. $500 some odd dollars. So basically, when this machine rents out for just three weeks - it's more than paid for itself. I was outraged. But Home Depot's rental fees for the same type of nailer were even more expensive - they charged via 4-hour intervals or 24-hour intervals. $40 for a day. $40!! That puts a week with their nailer at $280.

They just don't think you're going to be flooring a whole 1/2 a house at one time. They think, "oh, the do-it-yourselfer isn't smart enough to go all out like that. They'll only do one 12x12 room at a time."

Be that as it may - now we're trying to push ourselves to work late nights yesterday and tonight and get just the bedroom done and then take the damn thing back. We'll rent it another couple days when we have all the furniture cleared out of the office. No use paying for it when we're not using it.

Why don't I just purchase the one at HD? I mean, eventually, we'll be doing the entire downstairs too. I guess I'm just too pissed off to purchase. I know that's a horrible excuse. But can't we get like, a USED one somewhere? The whole thing's just ridiculous.

On the brighter side... of life.. de doo dee doo be doo bee doo - sorry. It is Fancy Friday after all. And despite my pissed-off-ed-ness, I really am feelin good today.

I'm excited for my floor! Mike set the first few rows last night - he told me to leave the room early on because I was stressing him out. I was just so pissed about the nailer and the money and then I was all worried cause he wasn't following the written installation instructions - and apparently, I was breathing in a way that was somehow stressful. And I admit - I was freaking out like a girl and needed to just butt out. So I did.

I didn't even go up to look at it until after he'd left for work this morning. It looked good. I'm very excited. And, yes, I did apologize about being a psycho and asked if I could be allowed back up to help tonight. And he accepted my apology and oh isn't that great and warm and make you feel all yum dum doodle dum inside...

Now that the kodak moment is over, back to the issue. I really really want to get a lot accomplished tonight. If we don't finish the room, I want to be so damn close that we can get up early tomorrow and be done with it. I still have to do my third coat of paint, but of course, we have the nailer now and have to make tracks on the floor. So I'll just have to plastic. Hopefully I can do that Sat afternoon or evening.

And watch out for pics on Mon.

Another Nailer

Mike left the house early this morning to rent the nailer. Turns out it was $200. I wonder how long we get to have it for the $200 - because that seems really steep to me. Couldn't we buy one for that? Maybe that's what he did.

*Ok - since the last paragraph I looked up prices on power floor nailers. They're really varied - from $200 some dollars to $600 some dollars. So it's quite possible he could have purchased the thing - especially if you take into consideration that he used to work there at the United Rentals. They probably gave him a discount.

I wouldn't mind owning it for that price. Renting for that price? Pshaw. That's what I say. I better be able to keep it for like 6 mo's for $200.

Anyway, as you probably guessed Mike finished plywooding over the last two nights. I didn't get home in time from work on either night to help, unfortunately. But I do need to touch up my paint. I think since I have plenty left, I may as well third coat the whole thang tonight.

After the floor is in, we'll have to trim out the windows and put in baseboard trim. I mean, why not? All the furniture is outta there. If I was really cool I'd get my closet doors too - but I think I can wait on that.

But we have to do it quick - with everything out of that closet, there's clothes EVERYWHERE. Clean, dirty, mine, his - who knows - they're all over the place and all mixed together. And, being semi-OC about messes, I don't know how long I can stand to look at it before I break out a paper bag to breath through.

I Think I'm Wrong

I have to say, I just loved allll of your comments to my last entree. And you all are right - why should I obsess over it?

But, I have to admit - I was wrong.

Sunday I started painting, and decided to give method #2 a try. And by the time the first coat was on, I was in love. Leaving the entire top slant white totally makes the room look bigger! I love it. It 's a nice contrast to the red and matches my white TV stand.

Last night I did the second coat. I didn't look at it this morning, but hopefully this time around I wont' have to do a third coat.

Meanwhile Mike's been putting in the 1/2 inch plywood (underlayment for the hardwood) and boy has it been tricky. But I think we're making good progress. The bedroom is almost all done - and with very little cursing and swearing and throwing of hammers.

Tonight's madness involves removing the closet organizer - which is conveniently attached to the wall in, oh, 10 places! Last night I took out all the stuff in the closet though - so everything's ready to go. We'll probably use two more sheets of ply - which is two less than we thought we'd need. So that's good too. I hate to curse it, but everything is going smoothly.

Hopefully Mike will be able to see what it takes to rent the hardwood nailer too. If we can get that tomorrow night.... oooo! Think of the fun! I can't wait.

I think I'm Right

There is a debate that needs to be settled. Any maybe some of you house bloggers can help me out with this.

Ok - first off, my house is shaped like a barn with no dormers or anything. So the upstairs has slanted ceilings on both sides, a cathedral ceiling slant up, and a flat part at the very top of the ceiling.

The debate is in regards to painting - painting the room in dark color with a white ceiling.

First School of Thought: Paint the walls AND the cathedral slant up - only paint the flat part at the top of the ceiling white. This draws the eye up and makes the ceiling appear higher and the room, bigger. Painting the cathedral slant up white would bring the ceiling down and make the room feel small and short.

Second School of Thought: Paint only the walls. Painting the cathedral slant up and the flat part of the ceiling white will make the room appear larger because the lighter color will let more light into the room.

I learned of the first school of thought from HGTV - so I am of that mindset and believe that to be true. However, my neighbors are trying to convince me otherwise and it's pissing me off.

Also - I'm sick of everyone saying "dark colors make a room look smaller." It's absolutely ridiculous. People tell me that again and again because I happen to like dark colors. And I'm sick of it. Color is beautiful! I had to live in all white houses growing up and hated it. And now this ceiling thing. So settle the score for me, because I think I'm right.

Pros vs Joes

Dana and Rich were over again last night, putting on a second coat. They couldn't finish, mostly because everything is taking so long to dry in this winter weather. They have to come on Monday to give everything a light 3rd coat and a little bit 'o sanding. After that it looks like I'll be priming and painting the whole bedroom... again.

I'd like not to prime - but Dana advised it, and lets face it - I don't want to do these walls a THIRD time. This time I'm definitely going to use tinted primer though. I didn't the first time and it took a zillion coats to get it that deep red color. And the ceiling needs to be repainted too.

And then we've got to move all our office furniture across the room so they can get the 2nd half of the office done.

Ooo! Ooo! I have to tell you - I found the most awesome lamps at Walmart. Yes I know, I'm supporting "the man" and contributing to pollution, cheap overseas labor, and the end of the small business as we know it - BUT - I got three lamps that perfectly match my office FOR $7 EACH!!! One has a hyper modern pink and magenta lamp shade and a white base. One has a black w/fringies lampshade and a chrome base. And the last is a black hangy chandelier - very sheek (chic) and minimalist with a touch of that 70's bead door look - in black!

Good thing they only had a few left or I would have bought two of each!

Pictures! Pictures!

Finally - I remembered to take some picktures for all 'yalls. Ok. First off, check out my glass blockage. Now, I know I'm not a mason... or a tilest. But I'm really happy with this. Look how nicely the blocks fill in those tiny holes left by the smaller beams. (The big beam holes were where we put the basement windows seen in the wide shot) And you should see the beautiful light they let into the basement. How it comes through the glass is just beautiful. I love it.




Now onto last night's drywall. Our neighbors Dana and Rich were over and boy did they do an awesome job! Mike finally got to see some professionals in action and I think he learned a lot helping them. Which is great, because the drywall was so frustrating when we first did it. Rich was saying that he and Dana started in 1964. Too cool! Mike on the other hand started in 2005.


The whole thing brings back memories of our first drywalling experience - which was terrible. We hired some people who were... well, unprofessional at best. I'll leave it at that. We ended up having to re-mud and re-sand every room. It was horrible. Anyway, all that's over now.


So everywhere you see patched in the pictures formerly had cracks. The small patches are where new screws were added or old ones were re-patched. (Because you could see some of them.) The bedroom was really hit the hardest. The bedroom and the kitchen. The upstairs as a whole was never done right in the first place - so believe me I'm glad to have professionals helping us now!


The guys will be back in on Thursday to finish up. At that point it'll be me and the paint again. Joy. But all I have to remember is how good it's going to look. That otta keep me going. Maybe I'll even get eggshell this time instead of flat... Now that the drywall is fixed. Do I dare?

We've Got Wood

There's 500sq feet of hardwood sitting upstairs right now. And I have to admit, I was nervous about it. But when we picked it up last Saturday, brought it upstairs, and opened one of the boxes, I was excited and relieved to see that it was beautiful.

The color is awesome, the sheen is shiny, and it all seems to match everything perfectly. I love it. It's been hard to let it sit in the boxes, but it has to get used to the house's temp and humidity and all that for 3-7 days.

Up until Sunday, the plan was to install it this upcoming weekend. But on Sunday our neighbor Dana came by. Now he's an old drywall pro, now retired. (Makes a killer cranberry moonshine, tear-jerking jalepeno poppers, and venison chili that would grow hair on a gecko.) Anyway, he rightly pointed out that before we go putting down the hardwood, we should fix the drywall that was damaged during the house lifting. Because of course drywalling makes the biggest mess ever - next to demolition of course. Lucky for us, he offered his assistance, plus one of other other neighbors who used to work with him.

So they're coming over tonight to start. And believe me, having the drywall repaired is another sigh of relief that's been long awaited. We had to wait until winter was over because we wanted the house to have fully settled before we went fixing anything.

There's not much drywall damage in the office, but the bedroom is pretty bad - with 1/2 inch of crack separation in a couple of locations. So they'll probably start in there. And of course, once they're done, I'll have to paint again. Figures the bedroom is a deep burgundy color - so I'll expect to be doing a lot of coats.

Oh - and later on Sunday, our carpenter recommended we put down another 1/2 inch of plywood over the 3/4 we already have up there. So.... we'll have to do that too before any wood can go down.

Annoying isn't it? But I kinda saw it coming. I'll have to take some pics tonight. This cadbury egg tastes interestingly...

Addition Boredom

I am sooo totally bored. I'm at work... waiting for folks to get back from a meeting so they can throw a bunch 'o crap on my lap at 3pm on Friday that I have to prepare in a rush for Monday so I can get out of here on time so I can meet my friend for Chinese food on time.

Don't you love it? I hate knowing that there's a million things to do, but I can't do anything about any of them.

Anyway, whilst I was bored, I went into photoshop and did a quick bathroom addition rendition. I know the quality is mediocre, but I just wanted to see how it looked.

So here is a pic of the back of the house from the house lift so you can get an idea of its current structure.
And here is the photoshopped version I just finished.
So, as I said, it's not perfect. I'm not a designer by any stretch of the imagination. But you can see how it would look if we stacked a second bath on top of the original bathroom, following the roof line of the house. AND - with the addition of the chimney for a woodstove. I'll show it to Mike tonight and see if this was what he had in mind. The green door actually would go down into the basement - this area functions as our bulkhead too. (Just in case you thought it was weird that a bathroom had a door to the outside.)

Check's IN the Mail

THE CHECK IS HERE! Hooray for tax returns! I hope we can go get the floors this weekend. We'll see if our local Lumber Liquidators has what we want in stock. Not that I know what we want yet - but I can't wait to get it.

Squeee-Squwah!

That is the sound our downstairs floor makes - and the entire downstairs vibrates when someone walks across the current oldy floor. Not a lot - but you know when someone's walkin around. No sneaking into the kitchen for a cookie in this house.

The current wood floor floats on... well, I'm not sure what it's covering, but it's even older and rougher wood. Plus, below, the beams are way off 16 on center, therefore, there's not as many of them to properly support the floor.

So, prior to putting in a new floor, Mike wants to firm up our current one. Our carpenter has advised us to install more support beams from below and then screw down the current floor with long, high strength screws. Mike wants to hire him to do all this... and I'm wondering, how much is that going to cost for labor and materials?! Never mind the 3/4 ply that needs to go over the old wood floor before the new one can be installed.

You know - I can make cost estimates all day long and try to work out every detail. And in every single case, the job goes over budget before it even starts!

Fresh Flip

Well, I got the samples on Saturday. And let me just say that neither the web pics or the catalog pics were accurate. Mike and I weren't "thrilled and excited" about any one of the colors.

And at first I think we were both convinced that we could "live with" the oak color. But the more I thought about it and stared at the samples, the more I thought, "Why should we spend all this money on something we don't absolutely LOVE?"

Plus, I had apprehensions about the whole laminate thing. I know I know I know - I had decided. But now I'm un-deciding my decision. Why not spend the extra thou and a half or so? These are going to be our floors forever. Why go the cheap and easy? Everyone agrees that wood is best. So rather than be unsatisfied, I'd rather spend the dough and elbow grease.

I know this is so completely contradictory to what I've been saying for weeks. It just took some samples to really get me thinking about it.

So now our plan is to stain a small piece of trim and bring it to the LL store. We'll compare it to the hardwoods on display and choose one that way. (After tax returns come back, of course.) Hopefully if they have all our sq ftg in stock, we can bring everything home that very day.

Choices Choices

Well - I'm confident that we want the Nirvana V3 line of laminate from Lumber Liquidators. No glue, no nails, 25yr warranty, soundproofing underlayment already attached - very cool.

So I ordered up some samples - you get 3 for $10 and they give you a coupon for $10 off your next order... so you end up getting your samples for free. (Did I mention free shipping too? Super awesome.)

Although I'm pretty sure that I want this line of laminate, but I'm not sure about colors - so I ordered three different colors. I'll show you them.

Option #1 is a mahogany color - which I love at first glance. But Mike is worried that it's too dark.

Option #2 is oak, and although it's a little browner than I'd like, the grain looks really cool and dimensional. It'll be a good comparison and middle of the road-type choice option.








Option #3 looks too light and too brown on the web - but in the catolog, it's the color Mike and I agreed upon. (This is the reason for samples guys: internet and catalog do not do a floor justice.) This is the cherry sample and we're hoping it will be the best match for our trim color.







I'm so excited! I can't wait for the samples to arrive. In fact, I think I'll my tracking # now.... *checking checking*

Ok, the samples are scheduled to arrive tomorrow - right now they're in:

HAGERSTOWN, MD

Eeeee! Our tax returns are scheduled to be sent out 2/23. So definately by then we'll have decided on a color, measured our square footage, and perhaps nailed down some 3/4 ply downstairs to further firm up the currently bouncy floor.

So what do you guys think?

My Unlucky Jan

It's been a while. Mostly because I've been out of commission due to... well... continuous bad luck. First Mike caught the stomach flu. Then I had jury duty for over a week and my work was raging mad about it. Then I caught the stomach flu. Then work was madness because I missed so much because of jury duty and the stomach flu. Then a friend and I got into a bad car accident on our way home from a concert. (No injuries though - so I guess that was lucky.) And now I'm just waiting for the next bad thing to happen... though hopefully this string of misfortunes is over.

But would you believe we're inching forward on the homefront! Amazing that I've felt like it. Although I have to admit I was really depressed right after the whole stomach flu thing. Every crack in the wall, every splat on the floor, every lapse in the paint - it was painful. But I'm feeling more hopeful now, after forcing myself to do some work.

The Sunday before last I stripped the paint off my vanity, cleaned the basement, and insulated our attic space. Meanwhile, Mike finished installing the baseboard in the mudroom, the mudroom closet light, and a smoke detector.

This past Sunday, we sanded and stained the vanity, picked up and installed the last of the basement windows, researched glass bricks on the internet (for use in the small basement windows), fixed my truck's back power window, and cleaned a portion of the garage.

But what's really got my psyched is our upcoming tax return - it'll be enough to buy new floors! I think we decided to go with a laminate, mostly because it looks good, installs without glue or nails, has 3mm of underlayment already attached, has a 25 yr warranty, and still costs half as much as real wood. Yes - I know wood is good. But I think the laminate is a better/easier choice for us.

Heat Today, Gone Tomorrow

Well - I guess you could call it a good weekend. We made the scrap metal run Saturday morning then picked up a baseboard from the DH on the way home and installed it in the mudroom while waiting for our friends Andy and Crystal to pick us up for the RV show. (Hopefully, we'll be able to hook that baseboard and the kitchen baseboard into the system tonight if Mike's not feeling ill.)

The RV show was fun - very tempting, but we didn't walk away with anything new. We all went to dinner afterwards, then hung out at our house drinking watermelon-tini's and taking digital pictures of each other in weird hats and posting them on Andy's myspace. Very random.

After our friends left, around 1am, Mike got terribly ill and was throwing up again and again. It was awful. We were up half the night. The next day he continued to be sick - it was a bug, not an alcohol related thang we thought. So sunday was a lost cause.

I still managed to take back THE LAST BAG O CANS!!! (No more redemption - ever - because you'll remember that Mike got a kegerator for x-mas.) Boy, was that liberating. And I sold the truck to our friend Ben. We gave him a good deal, and he'll have to make payments - so it wasn't my ideal situation. But since I got the raise at work, I'm not too worried about cash flow. I got the minimum I needed to get anyway, and sold it to a friend in need. It was weird though, because all Sunday people kept coming by and calling me - wanting to buy it! So ironic, right?

Bread Makes It Better

Let me tell you, there's few things that will squash a bad mood like a freshly baked loaf of sourdough. That's what's brought me out of the depths. I should count myself lucky that we have a bread maker here at work - and delicious dipping oil.

So I'm sorry for yesterday's rant. I wasn't feeling very well when I got home from work yesterday and just collapsed. But now it's Friday and I feel a little better. Especially since tomorrow I'm going to the RV show with my good friends Andy and Crystal. Not that I'll come home with a shiny new RV - but it's so much fun to look.

And I talked to Mike seriously about the heat problem. He did agree that the windows and door in the kitchen and mudroom weren't helping the problem. And he's going to hook up the baseboards for me this weekend! I'm so excited! We may also blanket wrap the side door and use the front door only until we can get a new door.

I would imagine that I could purchase the door at the end of this month. If I hadn't filled the oil tank, I could have gotten it this week. Thank god for pay raises. And... hopefully my friend Dos Bequis and her beau will come over Saturday morn to look at the truck. I offered it to them for a discounted price. If they buy it, I will be a happy pancake.