Floods and Updates

It was as I had expected. That inspector was definitely a hard ass. And the strange thing was, he had been instructed only to take pics of the boiler, the bathroom, and the kitchen. All of which are in perfect working order. Mike tried to explain to him that we'd made improvements to avoid cancellation and pointed these out to him, but no no. He didn't need any of that.

Apparently he had a photo of the house with the farmer's porch on it - so they'd been to the house before without our knowledge, taking pics of the exterior. And that's honestly fine with me - but we JUST added the railings a few days ago. Not to mention the gutters. Again, Mike tried to explain this, but to no avail.

When I found out around 4 yesterday, I immediately got on the phone with our rep to make her aware of it. She was going to be following up with the insurance company anyway. And she better not take any guff from them if they try to say things aren't done. I wish I could talk to them myself.... on second thought, probably not the best idea.

"Home insurance cancelled due to psychotic home owner." Yeah, I'm definitely a liability.

Anyway, long overdue, here are some pics of the recent inspection-ready improvements:

Gutters and downspouts on one side - Mike's advice - it is easier to put them together on the ground and then put them up as one unit instead of trying to attach them to the house piece by piece.

Gutter on the back - much needed!

Temporary porch railing - lookin good.

Ah the exterior lights are back up again. It's all for temp, but still...

Completed basement railing - a little funky, but still functional.

And now on to the drama.

After clicking on the title to this post you're probably wondering where the flood's at. Well, it was a dark and stormy night. (Last night.) We started out with snow in the morning, which changed to rain in the afternoon and evening as the temperature climbed from the 30's to the mid 50's! What an incredible change. The wind was wild, the fog was everywhere, and by the time I got home, melting snow was creating huge rivers and puddles.

Around 7 I suddenly turned down the volume on the TV - I heard water. Not just dripping water either - this was definitely a fast moving waterfall dripping on some kind of hard surface. We started walking around, hoping that it was just the new gutters doing their job. Unfortunately, when we reached the basement - we discovered our favorite back window leaking again.

And not a small leak either.

Immediately, Mike shut off the boiler - which you can see in the pic is right in the line of fire. I had to quickly prop up a wooden sleigh bed I was storing near by on a few pieces of wood to keep it out of the fast growing puddle - although luckily that was the only thing I was worried about being damaged.

Mike grabbed his gordan's fisherman outfit and rushed outside, where he discovered that it wasn't so much the falling rain off the roof, but a river of melting snow running off the hill, straight into the window.

He was outside for nearly an hour with a shovel and the skid steer trying to divert the oncoming tide. Meanwhile I'm in the basement snapping a few pics... I guess I nearly gave the poor guy a heart attack. He thought the flash was something electrical arcing out in the basement!

Note the faint line about halfway up the window glass - that's where the water is. Trapped in the window well. It looked like a fish tank.

Eventually Mike was able to divert the water and slow the flow as it were. The flood ended with a quick vacuum of the basement with the wet dry vac.

Thank god the inspector wasn't around for that!

I-Day

I-Day or Inspection Day has arrived. And did I mention there's a few inches of snow on the ground and it only just turned over to freezing rain?

Excellent day for an inspection. Who knows what the roads will be like between 2 and 3 when this dude is supposed to show up, but I haven't received a cancellation call yet.

Mike is home tidying up a few last minute things - installing that basement stair railing, installing an exterior light, and hopefully not creating any big messes after I ran around this morning like a madman to finish the cleaning.

He finished the gutters on Monday, to great relief. We actually had a boatload of extra pieces that I was able to return to the Home Depot yesterday. What an even greater relief! Yesterday he installed the temporary railing on the farmer's porch - which looks great. Too bad I didn't have an opportunity to take down the xmas lights. But no matter. They're not even plugged in.

I'll be glad when 4:00 rolls around and I know the dude has come and gone. Then we're back to the baby's room. (Thank god because it's already Feb as far as I'm concerned.)

Lumber Liquidators called me yesterday - the flooring is in. Mike will be able to pick it up this weekend if not tomorrow/Friday depending on his schedule. He keeps asking me where I want to put all the extra. Hell if I know. (That's my one cheezy joke that I know - what do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino? 'El-if-I-know.)

Anyway - as I said before, once we pick it up we can go ahead and install it. This time we'll have to rent the traditional flooring nailer (you know, the one you hit with a hammer and all) instead of the little 3/8 stapler. Mike would like to do the hallway at the same time too - and now we wish we hadn't returned those two sheets of 3/4 plywood.

I doubt it can all be done this weekend. Everything's just been so crazy leading up to this stupid inspection. We need a break.

Only 48 Hours

The inspector will be at home Wed between 2 and 3.

Side note - I'm totally going absolutely extreme annoyance theorem right now. I want to run screaming out of here at light speed, in fact. (Imagine someone repeating, sometimes singing, the same word for over an hour in the next room. Yup, that's life sometimes.)

So obviously I need to take a break before I go anymore insane than I already have.

So the inspector - yes! We were preparing for him all weekend. Saturday Mike continued work on the gutters, though didn't get very far. First he needed more connectors. Home Depot trip 1. Then it turns out our downspouts and turn outs were the wrong size. Home Depot trip 2.

Nevermind that the warm temperatures (40 degrees) were melting all the snow off the roof... causing severe discomfort during gutter installation. Mike spent a lot of time with the push broom trying to clear it all off, but still couldn't silicone any of the joints with all the gutter parts so damp.

Needless to say, the end of the day came without much progress. In the evening, Mike had to help out a friend of his while I got to cleaning. I cleaned the basement and the entire downstairs. Sunday, Mike's riding day, I finished the cleaning upstairs and felt pretty satisfied with that.

TJ was over on Sunday too... with good news and bad news. The good news - Mike did a great job on the baby's room subfloor and there's no need to put down an additional 1/2" of ply. When the hardwood arrives - we can just slap that down and be done. Bad news - the remainder of the downstairs should be done in the same fashion. Meaning we rip up the old flooring and install 3/4 ply instead of just installing 1/2" over the old flooring.

Well, that's all well and good save for the additional cost of 3/4 vs 1/2 inch. Big cost difference, actually. Unfortunately, if we don't, the final floor will squeak and shake on the unstable base. Just another reason to hold off on hardwooding the entire downstairs. We have too many baby's room periferals to worry about.

After the floor is finished it'll be window trim, closet doors and trim, closet organizer, closet light, rug, window treatments, and don't forget all that baby stuff.

Anyway - back to inspection news. Today Mike will hopefully have finished up the gutters... and not had any more crazy problems. Also over the weekend, we picked up some 2x4's to create a temporary railing on the porch and a 4x4 to attach the bottom of our basement stair railing to. So that's all got to be done too - if not today then definitely tomorrow.

And that's it. If they're not satisfied with everything - I can at least say confidently that we've done absolutely everything we could.

More Floor

We took the official plunge last night and ordered the hardwood. 500sq feet of 3/4" cherry goodness, soon to be delivered to our local Lumber Liquidators for pickup.

I'm still unsure about the sanity of this decision. 0% financing or no 0% financing. But when it came right down to it I thought, I'm going to regret not doing this. And that thought made my final decision for me.

Plus, you know, I'm sitting here and the inauguration is on TV in the next room and I'm thinking optimistically. Cautiously, but optimistically.

Yesterday Mike finished installing the 3/4 subfloor in the baby's room. Next up, 1/2 inch! Subflooring is just madness. Especially when you're trying to stiffen an old wobbly floor. You begin to think to yourself, how sturdy does this floor need to be anyway?


Luckily, we have some 1/2" in stock. And - we had two extra sheets of 3/4" leftover, which we can return and purchase some additional 1/2 inch, plus more caulk.

The hardwood plan of attack is as follows:
We'll install the 1/2" ply in the baby's room and possibly the hallway if we have extra and hardwood those areas. The living room (and possibly the hallway if we have no extra) can wait. We can hold on to the hardwood until we can purchase more 1/2 inch.

Meanwhile - and I think I jinxed myself yesterday - I finally received that home inspection scheduling call. They'll be out a week from tomorrow. So cold or no cold, those gutters have to get up. And the whole house needs to be cleaned and tightened up. That includes the garage.

I'm not looking forward to it. The inspector sounded like a douche over the phone - a real hard ass. I'm sure they picked him out special just for us.

But no matter. I'm feeling pretty good about our progress and if they don't want to insure us - there's got to be someone out there who wants our business.

Change in the Forecast

All did not go exactly to plan this weekend, but worked out well nevertheless.

Saturday turned out to be insanity. We were all loaded up to go to the dump first thing in the AM when Mike's truck batteries (2 of em) died. Wouldn't take a charge, couldn't be jump started, nothing. So unfortunately we had to go out and buy two new ones at the tune of nearly $200. Timing couldn't be better, eh? But you can't get anywhere without batteries - this was definitely a "have to."

By the time we got home from that ordeal, I had to run out for my luncheon date with a friend, leaving Mike to hit the dump and the deepHo solo. He was going to pick up some additional gutter connectors, the 3/4" plywood, and caulk. Outside, the temperature wouldn't budge above 20, ruining any gutter/burning activities for the day.

And of course by the time Mike returned home and unloaded everything with the help of his parents, who came by to give him a hand, it was time for him to leave to meet up with me at my parents' house for dinner!

Amazing how long all this running around can really take. Oh and all that plywood, another $200. It's almost comical how all this stuff ads up. And you don't want to know how much I had already spent over at BJ's on baby stuff on Friday. (I had coupons.)

Sunday it rained and snowed all day - further delaying any outside activities. So we stayed in. Mike did a few odds and ends for me - installed the last outlet and switch in the baby's room as well as the smoke detector. Then he started in on the floor, first finishing up the final reinforcement beam downstairs. Once that was in, he nailed down the old subfloor. (Which had previously been just, you know, hanging out on the beams, not really nailed to anything. Maybe a few nails here and there just for luck or something.)

Once everything had been nailed down and feeling sturdy, he began installing the plywood.

And once again, the moment the afternoon hit, time just flew. Mike only had time to install a couple pieces before we had to go out to our friends' house for taco night. But all in all, a very progressive weekend.

I'm sure Mike is working on the subfloor again today if not the gutters. It really is much warmer out today, but I didn't feel like leaving him a to-do list after such a crazy weekend. I haven't gotten the dreaded call from the home owners insurance co anyway, although they did send me a letter stating that they were going to call to set up an appointment.

Joy.

And as for the decision on the hardwood - I still haven't made it yet. I have until the end of the day. I just don't know.

Waiting, But Not Wasting Time

I'm happy to report that this week really turned around for us after Tuesday.

First off, that presentation I was worried about last post was scheduled for this morning instead of Wednesday morning. So we actually had Wednesday and Thursday to work on it, much to my relief on Tuesday night.

Secondly, still no call from our home insurance rep. I'm still not sure if that's good news or bad news, but nevertheless it's given us (us, that's a good one because I'm pretty much useless at the moment) It's given Mike a chance to work on several projects.

Wednesday, he spent the day on gutters. Or, rather, preparing for the gutters. Because really once he got up on the latter and started inspecting the roof line, it was obvious that some prep work needed to be done first. One major area of concern was over the mudroom.

And we knew this was a problem because back when we did the roof, I noticed while cleaning out the attic - Hey! There's a big hole to the outside where the roof meets the wall! At the time, we brushed it off and said, "we'll take care of that with the new siding."

But of course with no new siding as of yet, and temperatures creeping below 0 lately - probably a good idea to plug that hole. So, using some of our extra PT decking (the ugly pieces left over from the farmer's porch) Mike trimmed out that area. Later, the gutter will attach directly to this piece.

Notice how the piece just melds into the farmer's porch. Perfect!

If the weather hadn't been so cold and snowy, Mike could have actually installed the gutters yesterday. He wanted to, the nut! But really, the snow plus major wind chill factor - even I'm not that much of a slave driver.

Here's the second area that is in desperate need of a gutter. This is the back of the kitchen, and when it rains, the water just slides off the roof. If conditions are just right, it can actually seep through that window and sometimes the wall itself. We had several major rain events one after another back in fall that caused a flood in the basement window directly under this kitchen window - not good.

Anyway, tomorrow the high temperature is a toasty warm 30 degrees. (Ooooo!) And sunny! (Ahhhh!) So hopefully Mike will be able to continue on this project then.

Yesterday, while the weather outside was frightful, (and at my suggestion) he started in on the baby room floor. If you remember, this room was the most unstable one. Jump on the floor and watch it buckle and shake the whole room! Not good if you can imagine the future shenanigans of a small Mike in there.

Our carpenter and good friend TJ suggested we just rip off the top layer of flooring altogether and put down 3/4 then 1/2" plywood before we hardwood to really firm things up. So Mike spent the better part of yesterday demo-ing.

In this shot you can see the old hardwood still in the closet area. The rest is the very old subfloor.

Of course, once the old hardwood was up, it became obvious just how unstable the actual subfloor itself was! It buckled to nearly the breaking point when walked on, nevermind jumped on. Luckily, we had some 2x6's in stock. (God, just call the basement the Miscellaneous Lumber Co!) And Mike began reinforcing the room from underneath.

He got quite a bit done and only has two more 2x6's to install to complete the reinforcing job. Very cool.

Plus - that's not all! Yesterday being the 15th, Mike went down to the FD and bought our burn permit. He spent some time burning what he could in the afternoon, but everything was still pretty wet and frozen. I imagine we'll get a fire going tomorrow too and continue making a dent in the ever present brush piles.

So let's refresh - this weekend:

1. Install gutters
2. Continue burning brush
3. Complete baby room beam reinforcement
4. Purchase plywood (?)
5. Dump run

I don't know about that plywood purchasing. We don't have any 3/4 in stock, and that's what we really need right now. 7 sheets of it to be exact. We have some 1/2" although I'm not sure how much. That'll be pricey. We'll see - we'll definately be at the HD anyway for some additional gutter connectors.

Oh - and lumber liquidators is tempting me with a 12months same as cash no down no payments no interest offer. I'm wondering if I should just screw the world and go for it. Buy all the 3/4 aztec cherry for the downstairs. (Which is really just the babys room, hallway, and living room.) I have to take some measurements and all that first... but it's almost tax time and I could use the refund to pay it all or at least make a dent.... right?

Something else to think about. We're officially more than halfway to Feb after all....

Happy New Year?

2009? When did that happen? It was 1999 about 5minutes ago.

Let me tell you, my absence from this blog is a good indication of just how badly our holiday season went. I can't go into details on the internet, but here are some high level highlights - the poor economy finally hits home, there's a death in the family, work and home to-do lists become overwhelming, and all of a sudden free time evaporates and we don't know whether to scratch our watches or wind our butts.

At this very moment I'm enjoying (enjoying - HA!) a momentary lull, soon to be followed by a mad rush of late night last minute presentation preparation for a giant meeting likely to be scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning. In this momentary lull, we're awaiting confirmation and further instructions.

Yeah. Perfect example of these more-than hectic last two weeks. And it's only Tuesday.

In the midst of all this, I got a cancellation from my home owners insurance company in the mail on Saturday. Reasons - mostly all that we had done our best to repair over the past year. Ok, red flag. They're supposed to know we made repairs and I told them they could come and reinspect at any time... and this was waaay back around Septemberish.

I got on the phone with our insurance rep right away and was pleasantly surprised to hear that she was there on Saturday. She would check into it for us and call me back with an update. I still haven't received that call yet, but it's ok. It gave us time to reexamine that list. After all, this is no time to be switching to a more expensive plan.

There's nothing we can do about the siding. The entire front of the house is Tvek'd and it's going to stay that way until spring. Sorry. But we built the farmer's porch complete with temporary stairs & railing, added a railing to the basement stairs and upstairs overhang, re-did the entire roof, removed the wood stove from the garage, and finished the mudroom. Honestly I would imagine that would be enough to subdue them for another year, but after all the bad luck we've come across lately, I worried about it.

So we removed and threw out the old garage chimney setup as one extra precaution. (Not that it was connected to anything, but can't hurt to be rid of it, right?)

We also decided to go and check out gutters. The insurance company had issue with all our missing downspouts. And since adding the farmer's porch, even more gutters are missing. Knowing nothing about gutters and how much they cost, we researched at the deepHo last night. Turns out metal gutters are cheap! About $9 for a 10ft section and $20 for a 16ft section. (How they figure that is beyond me - but whatever.) Cheap! And all the little connectors and many of the accessories were under $1 each.

We couldn't believe it and started loading up a cart. No use losing the insurance over $9 downspouts. When all was said and done, we had picked out enough to cover the house - although not the entire farmer's porch. (One thing at a time - besides, hopefully the porch will count as "still under construction.")

Mike is likely to have time to install them tomorrow - weather permitting. If not, then definately by the end of this week. Cross another item off the list.... as long as they don't call me in the next hour and want to inspect tomorrow. Knock on something.

Also, Jan 15th starts the official town open burning season! That wonderful annual time to get rid of all the brush that we cut or lost during numerous winter storms. Weather permitting, we should be burning all weekend. Thus further cleaning up the yard.

This brings me to another point about the insurance company.

It's so hard to decipher what the insurance company is complaining about sometimes and what exactly they'd like you to do about it. Great example, the insurance co mentioned debris in the yard - that's a big WTF. We have some items next to the garage that I wonder if they consider debris - just some scrap metal and heavy auto parts/tractor parts that Mike would rather keep out of the garage. But the amount is not excessive. I've been to several homes that should have been condemmed for the amount of junk in the yard. I wonder though if this is what they're even talking about. Or maybe they object to our backyard brush burner made from our old oil tank. Nobody knows! I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

This little unexpected home insurance side trip is unfortunately keeping us from what our real focus should be on - baby's room. It's all painted, but the flooring needs to be done ASAP. After that, trim, closet doors... time is ticking away and don't think we haven't realized. There's only a few months to go and all of a sudden all of this "we'll take care of it after the holidays" stuff is upon us like a sack of bricks.

What a way to start 2009.

All I Want for Christmas Ver3

Two years ago I made a list for Christmas - everything I wanted done to the house. Last year I updated the list, you know, crossed off finished projects, added others. And now it's time for yet another update. (This is becoming a yearly tradition now!)

Ok here we go:


1. New Downstairs Bathroom: stand up shower American Standard Champion toilet, small vanity, stand up shower, mosaic tile, river stone floor tile

2. Kitchen: Fix drywall and repaint, new cabinets, new windows plus trim, new (Kenmore or LG) refrigerator - the new double door freezer bottom model

3. MudRoom: reinstall wainscot, laundry cabinets, laundry closet doors, recessed light trim, new rug, dining set

4. Living Room: Fix drywall & repaint, flooring, trim all round, reinstall that one crooked window, new media center, Sony 32" HDTV, carpet pad, fireplace?

5. Hallway/Stairway: finish repainting, new front entrance door, banister, stairway trim, top stair step, stairway track light with dimmer, flooring,

6. Guest Room: Closet organizer from Closetmaid, closet light, Closet doors, window trim, flooring, new wood door

7. Office: Closet organizer, door to the attic crawl space, ceiling fan, bigger area rug

8. Bedroom: new mattress, new HDTV, more drawers for my Closetmaid set, door for attic loft space, window and closet door trim

9. Upstairs Bath: BUILD IT - frame it, electrify, insulate, drywall, paint, design, , pretty tile, skylight, Corner Jacuzzi tub for two, new vanity, stand up shower, American Standard Champion toilet

10. Garage: Drywall and paint, Two garage doors, storage system with shelves, addition on back of garage - built

11. House exterior: new clapboard siding, trim out farmer's porch, window boxes, green shutters, a new mailbox, lampposts, less gross plants and trees, flowering trees and other nice plantings, a shed, chimney overlay, chimney cap, another chimney to vent wood stove, hammock, new driveway (ie, repour it)

12. Basement: finish it off with a bathroom (toilet, vanity, stand up shower), bedroom (twin bed, dresser, small closet), work room, and rec room (comfy dark colored furniture and rug, pool table, air hockey, HDTV and storage unit). And I want my wood stove hooked up down therez.

Slow Progress

Have you ever felt like things are moving out of control around you, yet you're just standing there in slo-mo and can't get a thing done? That's been my holiday season so far. So much to do, so little time.... and I seem to be making no progress no matter how much I get done.

We've been picking away at things around the house - or I should say Mike has. I've been busy making cookies and Christmas cards etc etc. He finished the ceiling and closet paint in the downstairs bedroom. (And yes I did get those outlet covers and installed most of them.)

He installed my magic hanger (for brooms and the like) up in the mudroom closet next to the washer/dryer too. And he's been going around the basement trying to plug up air leaks.

Now that I type it out it all doesn't seem like very much does it? But it's felt like a lot for some reason.

I hate to say it, but I'm sure we'll be continuing to pick away at these small projects into January. There's just no funds for anything else. Winter-time blues at their finest, for sure.

Congratulations - It's Teal!

This week Mike's been slowly painting away. One color one night, next color next night, and the ceiling and closet still to come. I couldn't be happier with the results. The room is so bright and fun and well... teal!

Yes, that left side wall is the lighter Sweet Rhapsody color, it's not your imagination. Lighting just makes it a little difficult to tell in this pic.

Here's the opposite side of the room, and you can more obviously see the color difference here. Lookin good!

Although I've missed painting. I seem to be the only one who can cut in sans tape. (I forced myself to learn after several tape-related disasters.) Mike had to purchase tape - nearly $9 for a roll of scotch delicate brand painting tape. $9 - highway robbery. You'd think a tape that wasn't as sticky would be cheaper than a sticky tape. Not so. I could get masking tape that would pull the drywall off the studs for $2.

That shopping trip was depressing. No coupon this time either.

And now that it's Friday, I can only imagine that Mike will paint the ceiling and closet over the weekend. Not much else we can do at this point around the house. Holidays are waaaay too close. Although the recent slippery weather reminded us that we need a temporary railing up on the porch steps... or else someone is going to slip and fall and get hurt. Most likely - me. And probably while I have my hands full with groceries too. Never fails.

I'm thinking now looking at the pics, I could go down to the deepHo and buy all those outlet covers I need. They're cheap enough. That would really help the walls look finished!

The Painty Smell of Success

Tuesday tends not to be the most productive day of the week. Mike usually has work to do elsewhere after work and I have dance class.

But yesterday I was shocked to discover him home early - sanding the downstairs bedroom. He had it in his head that he would finish up the sanding and put on a first coat of primer. And I wasn't one to argue.

One of the greatest features of that room in a time like this is the door. Really, only our two bedrooms and the bathroom can be truly closed off. None of our other rooms have doors. So Mike just shut himself in as well as all dust and nasty fumes. It was a nice change of pace to our usual most-mess-possible methods.

By morning the door was open and I could faintly smell the primer. Just the smell of it really sent me back to the days before paint. And then the sight of that room, white. I couldn't tell you the last time that room was white. But it made me think of when we lived in there as the rest of the house was still under construction.

Ah, memories.

I would imagine that tonight he'll throw a second coat on there and be able to paint in color by weeks end if his motivation keeps up. I feel bad just sitting around while he's closed in that little room... with paint. But nothing I can do about that, unfortunately.

Turkey Day and Loose Ends

Another long long weekend - hope all of you had a great turkey day! I have to admit, I was a bit shocked and sorry to see my own mother making so many dishes from a bag.... gravy from a bag, stuffing from a bag, green beans from a bag.... I just always imagine those grandmother thanksgivings from years past.

My grandmother actually majored in home economics in college (can you imagine that?) and was an amazing cook until she recently took ill. Her thanksgivings started out with her famous hot crab dip and my personal favorite, a snack we referred to as, "The Cheese Things." These were served with an array of fancy crackers, which it was my job to arrange nicely on a platter.

Then the meal itself - if you still had room for it - included a huge turkey, always on a bed of parsley, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, scalloped potatoes, squash or sweet potatoes, fresh green beans with almonds.... I think I remembered everything. And all from scratch. For desert the classic pecan and pumpkin pies with homemade whipped cream. While we waited for the pies, we ate After Eight mints and other mint candies and drank coffee.

Even my mother made some outrageous thanksgiving meals over the years - her homemade cornbread stuffing is still the most unforgettable stuffing I've ever had.

But in thinking of all this last Thursday, I realized that I can't just sit around dreaming of thanksgivings past. If I want it, there's no better way than to do it myself. (Especially now that the mud/dining room is together.) All I need is a table and some more chairs and my grandmother's recipe book. Mike's seen how to fry a turkey at least twice on Good Eats and is just dying to try it. So why not?

I won't want to travel with a baby this time next year anyhow - so why not stay home and host? At least try. And you're all invited! Well... maybe not all of you house bloggers. Sorry. House isn't that big.

Well, enough grandiose schemes.

I'm sure you all want to know what we weekend warriors were up to for four days... ur, three not counting the big TD. (Turkey Day)

Well, I hate to disappoint, but really we spent the time tying up some loose ends. Mike finished sanding and then painted the basement stairway drywall. (I had suggested this project after bringing all the Christmas stuff up from under the basement stairs - thus dust, paint, and who knows what else could just fall down there without further ruining any of our stuff.)


Oh and of course I put up the decorations, cleaned, and basically finished all the other chores. Then Mike had some more winter vehicle maintenance to take care of. Ho-hum, right?

The real exciting moment of the weekend (sad though it may be that we're so excited about this) was purchasing the baby room paint at the DeepHo. I had a 10% off coupon - and with drywall well on its way, I think it was just meant to be. And even Mike was a little disappointed that he couldn't paint yet. He was actually in a painting mood... imagine that. Hopefully that will last until the drywall is done.

Speaking of which, the guys are working on it tonight and should have it finished and ready to prime by the time I get home. I can't believe the paint will be done before Christmas.

15 Minute Man

As promised, Rich was over on Monday to help Mike with the drywall in the hallway and downstairs bedroom. And would you believe it only took 15 minutes to fix and get a first coat on everything?!

Rich was just leaving as I was getting home from work - amazing. But, it's as he said - small stuff, easy to fix.

Hallway

Downstairs Bedroom

The two of them are getting together again tonight, first to put another quick coat on the downstairs bedroom and maybe some sanding in the hallway - should only take another 15 minutes or so. Then they'll go over to Rich's house, where Mike is helping him tape up his Jeep in prep for painting. Everybody wins - I love it!

The drywall, if finished this time around, will have to dry for another couple of days before it can be painted. It may turn out to be an all-paint weekend for Mike, who'll be painting the Jeep and now possibly these two rooms. (Although he may also help his parents, who are moving back to the Cape. If so - paint can wait until next weekend.)

And the big exciting news from yesterday - we both went to my ultrasound in the morning. And it is definitely a boy. =) We're so psyched!

"HI EVERYBODY!"

Motivation Strikes Again!

Amazing what a new blog format will do! Proof positive - this Saturday. Mike was pretty busy with winter time vehicle maintenance - you know, winterizing the boat, tuning up the skid steer, fixing the heat in my truck, putting a new chain and sprocket on the 4wheeler.... standard fall/winter stuff.

He came in around noon after finishing up the boat and I casually mentioned the hallway drywall and asked if he wanted to finish it up or if our neighbor Rich could come by soon to do it. (Since it was half done already and just needed another skim before it could be repainted for good.)

Well, somehow this led into a discussion of our downstairs guest room soon-to-be baby room and before you know it, I'm pulling out my paint color scheme and Mike's in the room inspecting the drywall! And wouldn't you know it, soon after that we're taking the old twin guest mattress and the desk out of the guest room and hauling it to the dump!

When we got back, Mike was back out in the garage to fix my heat. But me - I completely cleaned out the guest room. (save for the heavy stuff) Curtains, nick nacks, junk we'd been storing in there - everything.

Of course, it pained me to mess up the upstairs office after just having cleaned all the Halloween stuff out of there the previous weekend! Now it looks like this:


Ok, back to the bedroom:

Then I figured I might want to start a list of things we need in here. A new door for sure - this one was bought as a temp and doesn't match all the rest of the house's wood doors. Plus, it's taken a lot of abuse. We actually lived in this room during early renovations and this door separated us and our stuff from the dusty gross and unfinished house beyond.

Of course we need outlet covers - 5 of them. And one outlet has yet to be installed! Plus two switch covers and one switch for the closet light... oh yeah, and a closet light. Closet doors too.

Window trim and curtains.

Then there's the floors. Unfortunately the floor is super soft in this room. You jump on it and the whole room shakes. You can see the floor buckling - it's terrible.

That evening our neighbor Rich stopped by and of course he got all excited when Mike mentioned drywall. Especially when the two of them came in to look at the room and the hallway. There wasn't much that needed to be done. In fact, Rich asked if he could come over some evening this week! Mike suggested Monday. Great, done deal.

So in one swoop, we go from stagnation to motivation.... it's funny really. When we decide to move - we move QUICK. I think that's what has really allowed us to make such great progress over the years.

Anyway, tonight the guys will be working drywall. I have my dance class, so timing is perfect. Maybe if we're lucky, Mike will be able to paint this weekend. That's a lot to ask for a short week with Thanksgiving stuck right in the middle - but you never know when motivation will strike!

New Look!

Notice anything different about me?! (Me, the blog that is.)

No? Well, no accounting for poor memory or visual impairment. I've spent the better part of the last couple hours completely re-vamping the site!

New template - new customizations - and, hopefully, all the same old features. Unfortunately, to implement all this good and new stuff, I had to delete all the old widgets and recreate them. So if there are any links that don't work or something seems amiss, let me know.

It feels great to finally have a site that's not... well, the same 'ol blogger template. Makes me proud to show off the 'ol blog again. I was beginning to feel a little shabby after recently reading through several awesome blogs.

Feedback welcome! Ideas welcome!

Now I just need some new projects to post about.... Oh Mike!.....

Sweet Rhapsody

Sweet Rhapsody, Mirage Lake, and Star Shine... oh yeah, and the blue is Coastal Mist, but I doubt I'll use that one.

I couldn't resist checking up on boy/girl neutral colors at Behr.com. Teal has been in my head since the beginning - I'm not a pink-for-girls and blue-for-boys kind of person... and I'm definitely not a yellow kind of person either. So when I saw this color combo, with my main color's name of "Sweet Rhapsody," I just fell in love.

Behr has sample rooms you can point and click your paint into to experiment with. I have to say I also like the idea of doing an accent wall in the darker Mirage Lake teal color. The Star Shine would go on the ceiling - appropriately.

Of course here I am thinking about paint when I should be thinking about the logical first step in that downstairs bedroom - drywall. It has yet to be fixed. Then there's the hallway, right outside the room, with drywall half done. All that should really be taken care first since it takes so long - the mudding, the drying, the sanding, the dust everywhere.

I don't know if I want to hassle the neighbors into coming over again to do it this time. They've done so much for us this summer. Although if they find out that Mike did drywall on his own, we'll be in big trouble. Don't ask - I'm guessing it's some drywaller perfectionist pride or something.

One step at a time.

HalloWeekend

Let me tell you - it's tough to throw a party pregnant. Especially one so involved as our 6th annual Halloween bash - think about it, 6 years worth of accumulated decorations, creepy-theme treats to make, a costume to get yourself into, and then of course there's all the normal party prep including cleaning, yard work, rearrangement of vehicles, shopping....

I've barely yet recovered. And honestly, I had trouble relaxing during the party because I was just so pooped by the time it got started! Not even the virgin jello shots could cheer me, but they did help.

Anyway, as promised, pictures!

Our graveyard tablescape featured spanish moss, gravetones, and creepy skulls and hands reaching out from the moss.

Ghosts in the graveyard - actually white chocolate covered strawberries decorated with black icing.

Mike made the cheez pumpkins - semi soft smoked cheddar shaped into balls with a pretzel stick stem and crushed peanut rocks underneath. The lines on the pumpkins were drawn with a toothpick.

The jello brain - substitute vodka for the cold water in the jello recipe and make sure to spray the brain mold with non-stick spray!

Me in my 40's girl costume, complete with victory rolls.
(All thanks to this great 40's hair in 5 minutes tutorial from You Tube!)

Mike in his zoot suit with John G

Best costume went to my girl Keely - she's a tree! Complete with bird, squirrel, and tire swing!

And here's some people out in the living room, dancing with jello shots. That bright light back there - that's the strobe.

Now that the party's done, I'm happy to be able to relax. As of yet I have no plans for the weekend either - and that's just fine with me.

No Budget Transformation!

Remember the other post when I said I was going to steal some furniture and a rug from my guest room for the mudroom - temporarily of course, for the party?

Well - if it sounded a little bizarre to you, it did to me too and I had no clue what the consequences would be. But despite my misgivings, I did just that Saturday. Mike gave me a hand in the AM and we brought in the white rug and my little teal couch and a coffee table. The rug was a bit too long, but I hid one side with the couch and had to admit, it looked pretty good and comfy!

Then I put up the curtain rods - and let me tell you, the make-your-own-double-rod idea came out fabulously and easily!

Since the windows aren't trimmed out yet, and I know window treatments should be at least 4" up and 4" over from the window trim, I measured out 6" (2" trim) and installed the brackets.

To create the second rod, I just installed the smaller second rod brackets butt up to the first ones. This way, when I finally get curtains, they'll hide the brackets.


If you remember, I had already bought my sheers at the Linens 'n Things closing sale, and boy was I psyched about getting those up. And the minute I got down off my chair and stood back and looked at the room, I just couldn't believe it. The transformation was incredible - it looked awesomely comfy and the sheers were perfect and the rods were straight.


You don't want to know what my guest room looks like, but since we lock the cats up in there during the party - no one will have to look at it anyway.

Best Day Ever

Friday night was just terrible. I won't go into detail - but I will say that someone got very doom-and-gloom and then lashed out needlessly and pushed us all down in a hole. Anyway, it wasn't a good scene and by the time I got home, I just felt like sh*t.

Plus I had to break the news about the necessity of the washer/dryer... and man did I feel terrible about it. Just call me slave driver, cracking the whip on the sick kid.

But amazingly, Mike was in high spirits and feeling pretty good. He even offered to do everything that very second and started right away. My jaw just dropped and all I could manage to say was, "Ok!"

There was one small hole in the drywall, but rather than taping and patching and mudding and then waiting 24hrs for it to dry, Mike decided to use bondo. (An automotive body filler that hardens within minutes.) For a small patch, it was probably a pretty smart idea - though the smell of it was so strong I had to open all the windows and freeze the night away. I could even smell it a bit into the next day, but it disappated in the early afternoon.

Anyway, that hardened quickly and Mike had the closet painted before dinner. Then he pushed the washer into place and hooked it up. He even wanted to lift the dryer on top all by himself, but I stopped him there. (We wrangled our neighbor into helping lift it on Saturday morning and I successfully did a couple loads of laundry by Saturday's end!)


The next morning came and after a night of bad-Friday related dreams, I still felt off. And then there came the icing on the cake. So I was standing in the bedroom getting dressed. Our silver tabby was sitting on the bed next to my pillow when all of a sudden she just exploded - 1/2 her weight in projectile vomit - everywhere.

And I just lost it. Completely lost it. It's funny now just how upset I was. Mike cleaned it up for me and then I managed to calm down enough to go with him to the dump and then out for breakfast. I suppose I should thank the cat because it was good to get it all out... well, good for me. She, it turns out, had eaten a giant bug, which seems to have made her sick.

At breakfast we went back and forth on what to do - this was the first day in months that Mike had to spend with me and me only. No work to do - no neighbors to help - no nothing. But despite that fact, we were completely at a loss at what to do after breakfast. Finally we decided that we may as well just do the hardwood in the mudroom. Mike honestly said he wouldn't mind doing it - we already knew how to and it was an easy thing and a small room. I had no better suggestions and wanted it done, so who was I to argue?


All we had to do was hit home depot and rent the floor stapler - simple. Then we just got to work and soon enough we were back in the groove. I laid out the peices and cut them while Mike stapled. We had the whole job done within a few hours and were able to return the stapler within the 6hr minimum charge period... although they still charged me for the full 24hrs. God I was pissed but I didn't want to go back and argue at that point because we wanted to grab dinner before we went home.

The room looks amazing - so much warmer and larger. We had fun and we got something done by ourselves, just like the olden days. It felt great. Plus we had just enough hardwood, and even a little leftover.




We were going to purchase the closet doors as well, but they only had the 80" height and we needed the 78.5." Too bad - another time. Maybe this weekend?! Who knows - oh yeah, it's Friday. I keep forgetting.

My weekend goal is to put up my curtain rods and try to figure out that whole make-your-own-double-rod plan of mine. We'll see how that goes. Other than that, I'll be just doing some party related work - T-minus 7.5 days until the annual halloween party. I think for now I'll get a cheapo rug for the newly wooded mudroom (I may even steal the one from the guest room) and put the loveseat and coffee table from the guest room in there. That will complete mudroom party preparation with minimal budget requirements.

No Clothing!

It's Friday and we've officially been stepping on the new tiles since yesterday. It's great to finally be able to come in and out of the correct door, but now there's a new problem.

Mike hasn't been able to paint the closet and get the washer/dryer back in. He's come down with this terrible cold and should be home in bed right now. But no, he's been going to work for the past couple days despite feeling absolutely terrible.

Unfortunately, I'm leaving for a business trip to FL (woo-hoo warmness!) and I really need to do laundry before I go. Not mostly for me because all my warm weather gear is clean, but so Mike will have sweatshirts, socks, and underwear while I'm gone.

I'm so frustrated because I'd love to just paint the closet. I keep thinking, well what if I wear a respirator and open both windows and both doors... but I know that's just stupid. I can see myself with the doctor now...

Dr. - Well, these birth defects could have been caused by exposure to dangerous toxins!
Me - But I wore a respirator and opened both windows and both doors!
Dr. - Well, it just wasn't enough.

This is why all this stupid stuff just needs to get done ASAP - it all gets so frustrating when your body is so susceptible to, well, everything! Ah I remember the good ol days, vacuuming up bat sh*t and taking a hammer to horse hair plaster.... then there was the cutting of insulation to fit in the non-standard wall holes, burning of old wood in the back yard, taking down of the asbestos siding, digging out the basement, tarring the foundation, painting everything, demo-ing the old chimney, inhaling all that drywall dust.

When I start to think about it - nothing is really safe.

Anyway, I'll have to see how Mike feels tonight and tomorrow. I was hoping we could just chill out all tomorrow... but the whole laundry thing is just out of control at this point.

Grout

All my concerns about grout color flew out the window last night when I got home and saw the awesome awesome results. The tile looked incredible - the grout color was perfect, and even my dad commented that it was a great choice.

Just a couple more days to dry and we can officially cross mudroom tile off of the project list. It's nice to have a quick and painless project once and a while, don't you agree?

This pic was taken this morning before I sponged down the tile. You can see the dried grout dust mostly in the corners of the tiles. Shortly after this was taken, I wiped them all down with a damp sponge and then with a dry dish towel to get rid of that.

Here you can really see how great that grout color matches up with the tile. We're really happy with the look of it all. It's perfect.

Next order of business will be to get the washer dryer back in... laundry is piling up already.

Summore Floor!

Dadoo came early early Saturday morning to start on the mudroom tile. Mike had borrowed a tile saw from a friend of ours, and my dad brought the rest of the tools and materials, so after moving the washer, dryer, and everything else, he could start right away. And he didn't want any help, which was fine because Mike had to head over to TJ's place anyway to finish up his driveway. Me? I set upon the task of getting out all the Halloween stuff out of the attic and pulling out a few select decorations.

Here's a shot from around the middle of the day. We went with three rows of tile by the door - so you can get a good couple steps in on tile. The laundry closet would be completely tiled. (On the right hand side of the picture - but you can't see inside the closet from this angle.

Because we're transitioning from tile to hardwood, we were very conscientious about the meeting point between wood and tile. We wanted to make it as smooth as possible without having to use a threshold piece. So my dad picked out a tile adhesive as opposed to the traditional grout, which can be very thick. And it seemed to work, the tiles laid pretty flat as far as I could tell.

Despite the small amount of tile area, it took all day to get it down - till about 5. We locked the french doors to prevent accidental entry through that door - before grouting between the tiles, the adhesive would have to dry all of Sunday and Monday at the least, especially in these colder temperatures. (No, I haven't turned on my heat yet - I'm really trying to grin and bear it until it's freezing.) But at least the pitter patter of cat feet weren't enough to upset the tile, because it's always impossible to keep those two away from the action.

(We call Kamikaze "The Inspector" because he always has to survey all home improvements carefully.)

Here's the inside of the closet, all completed. Notice how the tile comes to the center of the closet frame, this way, when the bi-fold doors are on, they will completely conceal the tile when closed. Coo, huh?

Also, and I hated to admit it with Mike being as busy as he is, but the closet needs a coat of paint before the washer and dryer go back in... and I can't paint right now. (Which is so frustrating because it would be so easy for me to paint some night this week!) Anyway, we have a limited time before our clean clothes run out, so unfortunately for him, it needs to be done ASAP. You can even see in the picture all the scuff marks and lint grossness from moving stuff around in there so much.

I can't even tell you how many times we've moved the washer and dryer since renovating this house. I bought the set before we even had walls up and they sat in the kitchen in their boxes for months. Then they were finally installed only to be removed several months later when we lifted the house and they sat in the kitchen for months again until we finally got a floor in the mudroom. Then we had to add another layer of subfloor - so the washer dryer needed to be moved in and out - again! And now we had to move them for the tile.... so you can see why we'd like not to have to move them again.

Here's the finished part at the door. I decided to carry the tile all the way to the left wall instead of cutting in with wood just because there's no room to cut in with wood on the other side of the french door - the closet comes right up to the edge of the door. So I figured it would have looked lopsided to only have it on one side. I was nervous about that decision, but now I'm really happy about it - I think it's going to look good.

And I love the tile itself. Mike told me initially that it looked like "old people tile." But when you put it up against the blue of the walls and the white of the doors - it really coordinates perfectly. Plus it will be a great contrast to the cherry hardwood.

Speaking of which:

Look how close the matchup is. The wood is still a little teeny bit taller, but may not be once it's nailed down. As is, I don't think we're going to need the threshold.

Mike and I went last night to buy the grout and caulk, which will be used at the junction of tile and wood and tile and french door flashing. (Allowing for expansion and contraction, whereas grout in these areas would crack.) My dad will be over this afternoon after work to grout. Then after another period of drying - we'll be ready to rock on paint and wood and everything else needed to finish up this room.

Speaking of which, we had an extra extra box of tile leftover on Saturday. (I kept one box of tile in case of broken tiles, and still had one leftover.) So I brought that back to Lowes on Sunday morning. And would you believe, lo and behold, Linens 'n Things was going out of business. I couldn't resist. I high tailed it over there and went straight to the curtain section - where I had been eyeing these cool string curtains for months. They were still in stock, so I grabbed a couple. Then I went to the hardware section and grabbed some rods. I would have gotten the other curtains I needed too, but they were already sold out of the size I needed in the color I wanted.

It was so exciting, and pathetic. But now I had my mudroom curtains and rods! One thing I couldn't find was the double rod kit that I needed... You know, allowing you to hang two sets of curtains on one window with a rod behind a rod. So while Mike and I were at home depot I picked up a couple of cheap brackets and rods for the back rods. I've got an idea of how I can make them work without having to buy a more expensive double rod kit. We'll see how that goes. I can't even attempt it until the tile is finished - the washer and dryer are currently in the way of the windows. But I couldn't resist, I was just so excited after getting the curtains I had been wanting - at a discount!

And the Halloween decorating? That was fun. I got all the lights on the farmer's porch and most of the ones around the living room, kitchen, and hallway. Plus some of my favorite pieces.

The Microwave

The Kitchen Window Sill

The Hallway (Looks like it's on fire!)

A Good Sign

I may be jinxing myself here - but I haven't received any callbacks from the home insurance co after placating them with a couple tasty improvement morsels. I really expected them to schedule another visit, but no news is good news in my book.

And I'm sorry to say that despite last weekend's three day length, nothing much got accomplished. Mike has more work to do for everybody else that's been helping us out this summer - fabulous trade offs, I love it. But that means now that our roof and porch are done, it's time for him to really spend time with our neighbors and friends. And that's ok.

I managed to clean up the rest of the roofing mess from around the yard and tidy up tools that were strewn around the house. So everything looks kosher, and I feel good about that.

Dadoo will be over this coming weekend for some mad tiling. I think it'll just be he and I, as Mike has more obligations to fulfill. That's ok - it's not a lot of tile and we'll manage just fine. As for the wood portion of the show, I'm not sure. Mike's been so tired from his misc jobs every night and weekend of the week, I feel horrible asking him to do anything. I might just wait until next weekend, or even after that, depending on how he feels.

Like I said, the room is small, so I imagine we could even bang out that floor some weekday evening. I'm not too worried about it. We already have the wood, and the home depot rental department is just minutes away for the stapler. I will be upset if it's not done by the Halloween party on Nov 8th though.

I'm not even worried about the closet doors. Although I have a 10% off coupon at the home depot that expires tomorrow. I was really thinking about using to at least purchase the doors. Again, I can't do it without Mike, so if he's tied up or tired out, I'm just going to let it go. He's really just been exhausted!

Finished!

The roof is finished - 100% done. The guys finished it up over the weekend - even Mike worked his butt off, despite looking like a chipmunk and feeling very shitay. I must say it's quite a relief. We still need to do some cleanup around the yard - small stuff. Luckily one of the guys had a magnet, so I think we managed to get most of the nails out of the yard.

And as if on cue, I got a call from the home owners insurance company, checking up on our progress. I was proud to tell them they could come by whenever they wanted. True, we were not able to complete everything on their list - but we put $10,000 or more into the house this summer, so I don't think anyone could argue that we've made no progress.

Let's see, the roof alone was $2700 total - materials and labor. The farmers porch was at least $6,000. Interior stair railing materials came to $1,000. Then there were little things like paint for the garage, misc home depot trips, storage stuff, etc. that probably add another couple hundred bucks. So, yeah - $10,000 is a pretty reasonable estimate. Wow - isn't that crazy? We would have never been able to do all that without the sale of Mike's motorcycle, all Mike's side jobs, my injury settlement, and psychotic winter saving.

I am just so proud! I can't wait to really show everything off at the upcoming Halloween party.

And in case you were all wondering, I was able to make it over to dadoo's house on Saturday with my one tile and pieces of hardwood for him to inspect. The good news is - we think it's going to fly. He's going to try and make the tile as flush as possible with the wood, so we're going to use a tile adhesive instead of traditional grout, which can be thicker. Unfortunately, we don't really know how it'll turn out until we do it. So much depends on how you lay down the adhesive and all that too. But worse case scenario, we'll just have to put a little wooden transition piece between the tile and hardwood.

So we scheduled that install for the weekend of the 18th! Purchasing the tile is no biggie, since it'll only be for under the french door and in the laundry closet. Turns out, we don't even have to rent the tile cutter - our friend TJ has one that he'll probably let us borrow for the day. Too coo! We'll definately be able to crank down the tile in a manner of one day - probably less.

If I can motivate Mike a little, I might be able to get him to install the hardwood the same day. All we'd have to do is rent the stapler again and I'm sure once we get our hardwooding system down again (he staples 'em, I cut 'em and lay 'em out for him) we'll have that one small room done in a matter of a couple hours or less!

I mean, come on, we did the entire upstairs in just two days - and the only reason it took us that long is we had to keep moving furniture around as we completed the rooms. Plus we were new to the whole process, so it took us a while to really get going with our system.

This weekend hopefully Mike will get to have a break and do something fun. Either that or he'll be working at TJ's house. Either way, I won't make him do anything after this past weekend... well, I might make him take out the window air conditioner....

Officially Oct Reality Check

Happy October 1st. Can't say that I'm all that happy about it. This week is all about it's own crazy end. It's like the world is imploding around me. And it all starts tomorrow!

Mike's getting all four of his impacted wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow morning. Lucky for me, his mom could take him and bring him home, since I have my own first baby-related Dr's appointment at 2:00. So he's been nervous about teeth complications, pain, and the thought of eating nothing but oh-so soft stuff with no beer. (The no beer will be the toughest part, I'm sure.) Meanwhile I've been nervous about my own appointment - what if they tell me something's wrong? What if it's multiples? What if I can't go to Czech for Christmas? I'm preparing myself for the worst of bad situations.

Then there's the roof. The guys are coming by, starting today, followed by tomorrow, and then the next day and possibly the weekend to finish the final side. Mike and our neighbor Rich set up the scaffolding last night, but after tomorrow, Mike will be of no help and feels terrible about it.

Friday night, right after I get out of work, we have to high tail it to a bday party... that is, if Mike even feels like going. Even if he does, we'll be a barrel of fun since neither of us can drink. Double Designated Drivers - WooHoo! It's almost funny! Normally, I'd say forget it under these circumstances, but this is a very very very good friend of ours. Even if Mike can't make it - I will definately still go.

Then Saturday morning I've got to grab my Halloween invite supplies and go back down Cape to meet up with my gals so we can get these things done and in the mail.

While I'm at it I should grab my single tile I bought last weekend. Yes, I bought a single tile from Lowes to see how it would match up in the mudroom and to see how it would line up with the 3/8 hardwood flooring we have. Good news, it matches perfectly. Better news, it appears as though after the grout is in place, the tile will fit perfectly with the hardwood. But seeing as how we're no experts, I have to have my dad look at it. So maybe Saturday is just the perfect time to get that taken care of.... and perhaps schedule him to come down and do an installation?! I would just love it if he could come, say the weekend of the 18th? That would be ideal!

Now, of course, with the roofing finished this weekend, the next order of exterior business becomes siding. The usual questions come into play - how much, how much money, how long etc etc. Against my normal procedure, we'll probably have to Home Depot the siding. After the roof, our savings is pretty much nill. (Except for that approx. $5,000 cushion I hold in there - that's in case of emergencies and I don't advise anybody to ever empty themselves completely. It's just not a smart idea.) Plus you have to remember that the holidays are fast approaching, and we've got a Halloween Party in just over a month, a possible Thanksgiving trip to Baltimore, and of course the big Christmas trip to Czech.

The next three months are going to be soooo tight. After the siding and the mudroom floor and in place - that's IT until January. We may be able to finish the rest of the stair railing because we already purchased the materials for that - but seriously, no new projects. In addition to the money, Mike needs a break. He's been working like a dog all summer - home improvement projects, helping friends with their projects, working mad side jobs.... he's exhausted and asking for some R&R time.

When the first of the year hits, we've got to start worrying about the baby room. We need to put in a new floor, fix the drywall, and paint in there. (When I say "we" I mean Mike because I'll be completely useless at that point.) Nevermind stuff like furniture and other supplies. But I'm not going to even worry about that now. My goal is to make it through the rest of this year - get as much done as possible and have as much fun as possible on all our trips.