Holy wind gusts Batman!!!

Today we were working in the yard.  I want it to be perfect for the up and coming party!!  The wind gusts are insane!!!  They have to be a good 10 or 20 miles per hour making cleaning the yard quite difficult.   

We finished up the raking and cut the wood that was next to the shed for burning at the party.  As of right now, the back yard is pretty much done and then after dinner, I plan to do the front. 

Plans for this weekend include paining the house to a dark beige color with brown trim.  So excited to get rid of that awful asparagus pee yellow siding!!

I want to plant a ton of flowers in the front yard and put up a short retaining wall, white picket fence (that would follow to the side yard all along the edge where the creak is), and a trellis with a climbing vine growing on it for between the two satellite dishes.  As for the back yard, I would like to put a short, white leaf fence on the property line and line it with different colored roses.  After tearing down and rebuilding the porch into a deck, I want to put the vegetable garden on the right side (under the kitchen).  As you can tell, I have big plans for the yard and can’t wait to put them into play.

That is pretty much all I have (well, the besides the normal house cleaning stuff).  I did take four before and after pictures of the yard for you to enjoy. 

Lady was helping by digging up the dirt

Next to the shed before (just now realized I
forgot to take an after photo)

  Doesn't the yard look great?!?!

Time for a new paint color... and some grass. I need grass!!

So I know that I have severely neglected you (my people <3) and I apologize for it.  So I know I have some great pictures on my phone to share with all of you but I don’t remember what they are so I will just share with you what we have been up to in beautiful Hillsborough and whatever picture I have will come.

So, the walls in the kitchen and living room weren't too bad so we painted it a really nice dark grey and the trim is white.  It’s going to look amazing with my dark floors too (that will come much later, though).  With the accent of the old fashion black and white pictures and my swords (to be added when I find them) the living room looks amazing!!  All I am going to say about the kitchen is that we painted it the same color.  We have not gotten to much more than that.  I have some great ideas floating around in my head but you will just have to wait… he he he.  I will say this; in the end, the inside will have a cozy cottage feel. 

So over the past few days, we are trying to get the back yard cleaned up and ready for summer.  The previous owner left A LOT of trash everywhere in the yard and almost year later, we are still cleaning it up.  I don’t think she EVER used the dumpster!!  I raked the back yard and bagged it up.  Then I moved the snow blower and lawn mower to the other side of the shed where it is out of sight.  Eventually they will be going into the shed but not until after I find a way into the crawl space (hint, hint Ralph) to put all the storage stuff away that is currently occupying the shed.  And finally, I laid down a bag of grass seed onto most of the back lawn, got to get another bag for the rest of the back yard and the front yard (agh, our first yard!!!  Can’t wait to walk barefoot in the grass!!). 

Lastly… okay, so don’t make fun but I read Pintrest that this woman used Rustoleum spray paint from her local Kmart to paint the metal siding of her mobile home.  Sooooo…. there may be a very large chance that I may have bought one can and sprayed the side of the house just to see what happens  (I just happened to of wandered into a Kmart today).  Came out really good!! I think it will look better with a second coat.  I only wish that I read this sooner, I’d be done by now.  Welp that is it for now; some of the up and coming projects include:  new covered deck, new kitchen, and a picket fence in the front yard, and lots of plants.

For now, enjoy these pictures.

How does it look?  I freaking LOVE the colors together.

This is the only dog in the world that hates bring outside

This is what I used to paint the house

Th color on the left is the new color, the right is the old.  This picture actually
 isn't that great because the new color is much more beige-ish and the old color is
much more pee after eating asparagus.

Found a couple of nests, that is just
what I was afraid of.  Time for some
animal evictions!!

OMG LADY IS LYING IN THE GRASS!!!!!!!!!!!
This pretty much never happens, ladies and gentle dudes... mark
your calendars.

Get growing grass!!!

Can't wait any longer it's been like 2 hours!!!

                      

Pipes don't freeze in the summer, someone turn up the sun!!

So… let’s talk about Monday and Tuesday. Oh god how I am so happy that it is Wednesday!!!

Okay, Joey and I woke got up around 6am and I began to get ready for work (Joey had the day off) only to notice that there is no water.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So Joey went to work on unfreezing the pipe with a heat gun (that broke), a hair dryer, and my heating pad.  It was late so I decided the shower wasn't happening so I got dressed and went to work.  Throughout the day I called Joey to check on the pipe, still frozen.  Joey even called the land owner and the town just to check that they didn't turn it off… nope. 

After work I stopped at my parents to get some supplies to help with said pipe:

•    Reflective wall board
•    Some kind of reflective plumbing tape
•    Small space heater
•    Heat gun

The plan is to make a small box with the wall board around the pipe using the plumbing tape, blasting it with the heat gun every now and then. Nothing.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I spent a lot of the night trying to figure things out with my older brother, Ralph.  We decided that it’s got to be the other eight or so feet of PVC tubing that is connected to the metal pipe (leads into the house) that is frozen.  As I was talking on the phone with Ralph my dad called and said that he’d be over in the morning.  Ralph and I decided to shut off the main pipe (so it doesn't burst) and “call it a night.”

Mom and Dad showed up about 12:30ish and dad got to work.  He brought this high powered 30,000 watt heater after a few hours, nothing.  I am starting to think that I will have no water until March (note to self: stock up on body spray).  So dad took one of the tires off (which scared the crap out of me) so he could shimmy behind it.  Apparently Ralph was right; the pipe was frozen the entire length.  About 4 or 5pm we saw it, the outside faucet started dripping.  About 45 minutes later there was water (do you hear that?  The angels are singing.)  The pipe is now dripping (not totally bursted thank god) but dad said not to freight, he will fix it.

He then replaced the covering for the switch in the bedroom so that I can cover that last 2 or so feet with sheet rock.  We have moved into the new room with only little things left to do. 

I had to add this picture because it was the first time
Lady would play with a ball...  it was so cute!!

What’s next you ask?  The kitchen.  Gonna get new appliances from Sears (oh think of the points!!)

Well kids, that’s all for now!

P.S.: After 2 days of no water, that had to be the best shower in the world!!!

The Bedroom is Almost Done, Promise!

So construction of the bedroom continues.  We have been working diligently to make everything prefect and the payoff is finally on its way.

Recently, we have finished the plastering and sanding and about a week ago we finished painting the walls.  The color we chose is Ridge View from the Behr line.

We have also started putting down the bamboo floor, the color is Cafe; its a very dark brown.

Well, since I caved a few weeks back and told you everything else already, that is all I have for you today so here is a cat!

Preview of the new bedroom

Okay, okay I know I said that I wasn't going to talk about the bedroom until it was done but I figure it has taken so long and you all have been very patient; here is a preview.  Due to buying Christmas gifts and most recently having a touch of the flu I have not had the time/money/want to work on the room.  But… now that Joe’s promotion has gone through and Christmas is over I want this to be done in the next two-ish weeks so we can get the bathroom going.

We started out by ripping out the walls and ceiling as well as every bit of insulation (it was moldy and gross).  We covered the outside wall beams with bleach and Kilz to prevent any further mold problems, put up new insulation and now have most all of the sheet rock back up.  We have the wall where the closet is going completely up, the other two walls and ceiling is almost all up.  There are just a few things to fix on the ceiling because Joey knows nothing about construction and he put it up.  I also started to putty the on the walls and ceiling but had to stop because some of the screws weren't in all the way and the drills died so let’s hope that they will charge soon so I can get that done tonight. 

So this is a preview of what the closet will look like. 

I found this closet design at Home Depot so I just need to install it.  It will go the entire length of the side wall.  I also need to find the perfect doors… but… I also want to find a pivot that will turn completely around so it will have a full length mirror on one side and what looks like part of the closet door on the other.  There is also a spot next to the bedroom door that will is only about a foot wide from the wall to the door frame that will have two pull out towel racks that will hold my belts and scarves.  It will be FANTASTIC!!!

So what is left you ask?

--> Finish the little bit of walls and ceiling

--> Install the fan

--> Paint

--> Install the floors

--> Decorate

--> Move in

It seems like a lot to do but once I get all the supplies it will be a breeze.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. 

Ceiling fan is started

Moldy installation 

Day... umm... 65? Okay so I lost count

So on Saturday Joey went to work at 9 (I think).  Before work, he went to Dunks and got me a breakfast sandwich and a tea.  This is the day my parents usually come over but they didn't this time -- Mom grounded Dad (not in the good way either --- eeeewwwwww).  He has kind of been putting their bathroom on hold in order to help me with my house so mom told him to put in the new bathroom sink or he can't come to my house and play.  I hope he finished it because I really want to get the ceiling put so I can finish putting the walls up.

Anyways, I digress.........

So outside Lady and I went to rake the leaves and finish cleaning up the yard.  We got 90% of the yard raked and most of it bagged and I painted the picnic table before I had to pick up Joey at 2.  When we got home, we finished raking and bagging the leaves in the back yard.  Now just the front is left but that should be easy.  Oh, I also took apart the strange wooden structure that was entrapping my snow blower.  Great news though (and all you environmentalists out there are going to love this)!!!!  I measured the width of my bed and the width of the wood on the snow blower's prison and there is more than enough to make my rustic headboard.

See, I found this head board on Pintrest  (where I find most, okay, all of my home design ideas)

The only problem was finding the prefect wood that was just ruffed up enough to do it.  I found the wood sitting right in my back yard this whole time.  The only problem being, how to I keep the roughness of the wood and get the wood back to it's natural color so I can stain it?  I'm sure my Dad will have ideas, if not Ralph will. 

This is a rough idea of what the finished product will be.

So here are the before and after pictures from Saturday for you to enjoy.

Before:

During:

Lady was helping me... Just look at that beautiful smile!!

After: 

I don't think the leaves were ever raked here, there was no grass!!!
The lawn mower and snow blower are going to Dad's house to be fixed
then into the shed.  Although, I will most likely just get a new set.

Joey was picking up the last of it while I rested.  It was a REALLY
long day.

I also cleaned off the trailer pad behind my house.  It had
tons of large and small branches and other brush on it from Sandy.

All the bags we filled. and the wood for my headboard.  The yard
looks great!!!

Day 37 -- The rest of the ceiling comes down

Please forgive me for being so neglectful!! I have been quit lazy in my fixer-uping.  Anyways, today we worked on the master bedroom some more; we are planning on getting it done next weekend.  The plan is, over the week, the walls finish going up and the outside closet wall will get started.  Then next Saturday the ceiling fan goes up, super plush carpet goes in, and closet gets finished.

Today, I got out of work about 12:15-ish then met my parents at Home Depot in Hooksett, NH.  In case you don’t know this, sheet rock comes in a package of two.  The plan was to buy two packages of ¾ inch and two packages of ½ inch, the sign above each stated $8.98.  What they are not telling you is that it is actually $17.96 per package… dude… I was so f*cking pissed!!  Apparently it is $8.98 per sheet.  With the help of my momma (thanks momma) we bought what we needed.  What I didn’t know was that my dad bought a light for the porch, something Joey and I was going to buy but never gotten a chance to (thanks daddy). 

We get home and my dad got to work on the porch light.  Amy, mom, and I got to work taking the rest of the old ceiling out.  We still have some at the edges to take care of but the majority is done. 

My dad built this structure to help hold up the sheetrock while it gets screwed into the ceiling. 

 

While all this was going on, Joey did all the dishes, laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and cleaned the cat puke off the floor… all the stuff I hate doing!!

We then sat outside and grilled and had a good time just chillin’.

Amy and Mom ripping out the rest of the wall

Doesn't sound think much, but we did so much today!!  I can’t wait for my beautiful bedroom to be done. 

P.S.  I just want to draw your attention to this

This is a circular saw plugged into an extension cord.  My father is the person who used it and I found this about 15 minutes after my parents and Amy left.  If this was me, I’d be in so much trouble!!