You might be a redneck if...

Well if I have been busy juggling. Between two little kids, two elderly parents, and my stepson, my lovely little bungalow has suffered. After we pulled up the lovely cream/grey carpeting and found what I think are maple floors, things kind of came to a halt.
But I have to share what my 3yr old son said today.
We were talking about Santa. Where does Santa live?
My 3yr old replied with a serious face. Santa lives in Wal-Mart.
No, Santa live in the North Pole, after we were done laughing.
NO! Santa lives in Wal-MART!
Ok, Santa lives in Wal-Mart.
Sometimes, it's just easier.

One more thing completed

Dining room light before!


Dining room light after!

Fireplace oh how we fear thee.....

Well, when we bought our lovely little house, we were told they never used the fireplace. False. Evidently in the 80 some years they owned the house someone used the fireplace. So We got a little brave and took out a piece of cardboard that was shoved up in there. Hmmmm......
Not pretty. You can't see a thing for all the nest and crap up there.....I wouldn't be surprised if there was raccoons up there.
So we call the chimney sweep. With all the flooding that has happened in our area he is booked solid, trying to get people's fireplace clean outs clean again.......at least I think that's what he said. So in the meantime I'm looking for inserts in the off chance we win the lottery and can actually afford one....(ya know since that same flood sucked every last penny out of my wallet.)
Well, we have a Victorian sized fireplace. Great. Almost impossible to find inserts for it. Lovely. 21 inches wide. That's narrow!
(The logs you see in there are just some fake things I got Menards....they do NOT produce any heat, which is what I WANT!!!!)
So I have to think on it some more.......

Well another project started......

and not quite finished. With the holidays fast approaching we had to clean the cream colored carpet. It hadn't been done since we moved in last year. Well we though to ourselves, wouldn't pulling it out be just as much work? This stuff is just tacked down, unlike the stuff in the foyer and dining area that is GLUED down. If the hardwood underneath is in good shape we can put off sanding for a little bit, (unlike we tear up the other stuff.) So in the midst of four other projects I talked hubs into tearing up the carpeting with me. He drew a line the sand. NO MORE PROJECTS. This is it sweetie. That means no wallpaper coming off I guess. We really do need to get my stepson's bedroom completed.....drywall is such a pain. Plus the floor in the bathroom still isn't done, not to mention the beadboard........
Anyway....here's a picture of the floor and the new area rugs...I bought two of them......

What to do, what to do.....

Ok, we have a lot of trim that would look just wonderful stripped and stained. But it's not. It's this nasty dirty cream color. I've lived with for a year and I'm sick of it. I'm also sick of the wallpaper. It's bugging me. I'm also sick of the cream carpeting. C'mon people! WHO puts this stuff in a CRAFTSMAN BUNGALOW house?????? Who tears out original built-ins?????
So the other I say to dear hubby....if we're going to have Thanksgiving here we need to get the carpet cleaned. Which then leads him to peak under the carpeting in the living room. (We already know the carpeting in the dining area is GLUED down.) Yup this stuff is just tacked down and the floor under it isn't TOO bad. We could live with it for a while, (a year) before re-finishing it. So then dear hubby says, well if I'm going to tear up the carpeting I might as well tear out the wallpaper. I think to myself, that is never going to get finished before Christmas. Thanksgiving, I could really care less about, Christmas however..............

Sad Day

We had to put our 12 year old Basset Hound Miss Ruby Sue to sleep today. :-( I think it's beyond my 6 yr old's mind, but maybe not. We'll have to see. It's a sad day all around. We only had crumb sweeper now and the little white dust mop isn't quite the same as the hound dog. Have a swift safe passing to Rainbow Bridge Ruby Sue. We miss you.

Oh and did I mention?

That our house is haunted? (Even writing that creeps me out.) Yeah. About 3-4 weeks after we bought our house the P.O. killed himself. This house had been in his family for about 60 years. There are three bedrooms upstairs, two of them have remote controlled fan/light combos. The third one has a new fan/light installed by dear hubby, when we moved here a year ago. So you can turn the remote fan/light combos out by either the remote, the pullchain, or the switch on the wall. In the middle of the night the fan and lights will come on, whether or not you have the light and fans turned off by the pullchain and/or switches or not. Doesn't matter. This will happen in the bedroom that does not have the remote fan/light combo as well, but not as often. I've kinda gotten used to it, the kiddos haven't, but I have.
Then the other night I had a terrible dream. Frightening ghosts, scary hallways, sounds silly now, but oh so real in my dream. That night the light came on twice in our room, once in daughter's room, and twice in my son's room, the three year old ended up sleeping with me. When I got up the next morning and came downstairs, things had been moved. And moved weirdly. Party dress up hats my kids played with were all over the house. ALL OVER. I called dear hubby, since he was on his way home from his third shift job, had he moved them before he left and I forgot? Nope he remembered them the same way I did. The dogs were in their kennels at night, so they didn't do it. It just kinda freaks me out. I don't like to talk about it a lot at night or in the house, weird huh?

Knives are tricky things

Besides being a wanna be do it yourselfer, I love to cook and bake. I never make a cake from scratch. Bread is my specialty, and well I make a mean Moroccan Chicken Taco. So it's been quite some time since I've cut myself cooking. I mean years. But when you don't keep sharp knives, well.....you end up with your finger sliced down to the knuckle.
I have just been so plain busy I have forgotten to keep my chef sharp. So now with a throbbing hand I will be reminded of that for quite a while!
Of course this happened while my three year old was at the table wanting a slice of bread and butter, my stepson had friends in the basement, my husband was at the fire station, and my six year old was staring at me while blood was pouring down my hand, with her eyes as wide as could be. Yeah, not a good time.
Dear hubby came home shortly, but still, if it wasn't for bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at all. I think will slow things down maybe a tad bit more for a couple of days.....

Real Life is Hard

It would be so nice just to work on the house, but my real job interferes with that. Don't get me wrong I love my real job, (most of the time.) But man, I really want to stain that wainscoting. Plus throw in a three year old with a sensory disorder and you have mayhem!
So as you may or may not have guessed, the basement is going rather slow. We do have that icky flood smell gone. That was nasty! We have the walls coated, and mostly insulated. We have 3/4 of the wainscoting up.
My dear stepson came this weekend. He turns 15 tomorrow. So we set up his bed in his partially finished room. The poor kid is kinda sick of sleeping in the living room. I think "camp-outs" get old after age 7. So that also means about 6-8 15 year olds in his room all weekend long....so no more working on the basement this weekend.
Hmmmmmm..... Maybe I can transplant the peonies..............

As the winds blow colder...

And the nights grow longer, me thinks we really need new windows. Now I know this open up a whole other debate about original verses replacement windows, however, we do not have the original windows in our house. Ours are crappy Sears replacement windows from 1970 something, so we need new ones. Now with 26 windows that need replacing, that is quite the budget buster, if we had one. Before this winter I had hoped to have the exterior lead paint stripped off all the windows and the three windows in my dtr's room replaced and our two windows replaced. Even with the storm windows on you can see through a crack right outside. This can be quite drafty during January around 2am or so. But then we had water damage to our basement. So there went our window budget. But now I'm thinking we just need to find a way to get those windows.
I have not figured out a way to get to my daughter's windows with falling off of the little roof on the porch. (Speaking of that room, can anyone tell me an easy way to cool it off in the summer and have it retain heat in the winter? It is well insulated, except for the lovely exterior wall, but all our rooms have that issue, so I don't know why that room is such a problem. What am I missing?)
Anyway, windows, basement and bathroom. Hmmmm not a lot to do...right tell it to dear hubby. :-)

Steppin Out

Well today was the walk for Gundersen Lutheran Steppin Out In Pink. What a beautiful day we had! The sun was shining and we had so many people we were running out of things! I manned the information tent with my boss for most of the day. I had so much fun and I think most of the walkers did too! It was truly amazing to see all those people! Truly amazing and truly humbling.

Progress!

Well we got a dumpster, that is a lot to be said in this area right now! So we got the drywall out, the carpeting, and all the non savable stuff, which was quite a bit. My dear stepson got hit the worst. He lost a lot of his boyhood possessions, (being he is a teenager you know!) his collectible Pokemon cards, clothes, DVD player, Gameboy, we lost a lot of bedding stuff and other stuff we had stored down there. So 4 dumpster fulls later, (it was a small dumpster) and one more to go, we have most of it gone. We have used a watertight mildew and mold resistant paint on all the cement walls. We really couldn't find a "crack" in the foundation, but where the water was pouring in at was the chimney area. I think that old brick just wicked that water right in. So we probably will have to do something there. Whether we paint it with that paint, or what I have no idea. Then we need to re-insulate, re-frame, hang the drywall and stuff and get going. That will probably take us until Christmas! LOL

Suck it up

Okay the past couple of posts I've been whining about the basement. Now it's time to suck it up and move on. This house has been one thing after another after another. Then with the seeping basement walls and floor it seemed like that was it. It was just too much for me to handle. We lost my stepson's room, all the carpet, half of what he owned, all the drywall and a lot of other stuff. But it's just that stuff. It took 5 days or so of me whining and being just overwhelmed with the nasty flood smell to get over it.
Today we went through another little Hicksville town to get to my son's daycare. His daycare has been closed because it had over an inch of mud in it. They had to sanitize and clean and rip out drywall and stuff. We saw people who have a right to whine. They are living in tents, in RVs, in their backyards, or their homes have just been condemned. I saw old bungalows that can never be restored. I felt I could not take pictures of such tragedy, it was just too personal. I have no right to whine. No right. No excuse my past few posts. It was just me re-prioritizing the to-do list on my old money pit here.
Here are some pictures run in the local news. This one was a park my kids play at.

We are so...

We have had the most rainfall in history of Hicksville. And we are SOL. I give up. Dear hubby hasn't yet, but I give up. We simply cannot keep up. Our lovely old brick is seeping the water in and we just cannot keep up. (Governor Doyle has declared a state of emergency, but there are people that are much worse off than we are, so that is where the help needs to go now.) It is just so bad. So so bad down there. My stepson's room is just not pretty and the chimney area where the brick is, that is where it is seeping in at, well that is just, you could really sit there all night with the shop vac. You'd keep up, but still. I'm to the point I'm almost crying, I'm just so overwhelmed.
Okay I'm done venting, off to the basement to vacuum up some more water!

Well then

Dear hubby is starting to slowly hate the house. Between the exterior windows, a newly found hole in an overhang roof, and a new problem I think he's reached his breaking point. In his former life he used do stuff in construction. Then he got a job at the prison where he works now. I really don't think buying an older home this time around was in his "big picture." But here we are.

It's been raining a lot here. A LOT. About 15 inches or so. Our basement sprung a leak. I really just think the concrete absorbed the water and it is just seeping in. It's not pretty down there. There's not a lot of water, but it just keeps coming. It's supposed to rain until Thursday here. We're screwed.

Beers and Ears Party

Well we had our first "party" in our house! Dear hubby and I had a beers and ears party! I thought it might be a good way to meet the neighbors we don't know, which is a lot! Since dear hubby works quite a bit, as do I, and then we have our hands full with other things, you kids house repairs...stuff. Anyway! I had a bright idea to have a party, invite the people on our street and cook for them all. So we did. Dear hubby and I had time off of work together and this weekend was it.
Of course the weather couldn't be nastier.....rain rain go away PLEASE! We have the PERFECT backyard to party in and we are in the garage. But I bought a canopy and things went well! We have some really nice neighbors and they have cute kids! :-) We all had ears of corn, some grilled some boiled, I made of bunch of other goodies as well, it was so good! We had a pinata for the little kids and then we all talked and ate some more!
Oh and we might have had a few adult beverages as well!
All in all, despite the rain it was a really nice time!

Clawfoot Tub...Now What?

Okay, so we loaded the tub into the back of dear hubby's old beater truck. Tore up the lovely couple's lawn, (Sorry Milt and Lorna!), and put my back wayyyy out in the process. I'm hoping to bribe some nice strong men with alcohol into getting up my stairs when it's done. Meanwhile it will sit in the back of dear hubby's truck.
Anywho, the couple we bought from, the gentleman used to be a painter. He put a couple of coats of epoxy paint on this lovely tub. I want to remove them. So I was googling the web tonight and I found this, from the Loctite website
"Epoxy is considered a permanent adhesive. However, if you need to remove it, apply acetone or Easy-Off Oven Cleaner to the epoxy and let it sit for awhile. Eventually, the epoxy will soften and can be pried from the surface with a putty knife. Remember to test the oven cleaner on an inconspicuous area before applying over a large area."
HUH?
I think I might have to try it!

Found!

One clawfoot tub! Yahoo! I happened upon it doing my daily craigslist search on Sunday. The people who are selling it are holding it until tomorrow, when I come with cash. Dear hubby and I will load it into his trailer and then take it home to refinish it! I'm sooooo happy!!!
Hopefully pictures will be following within the next couple of days!

Steppin Out In Pink

This post has nothing to do with my house.
This post has to do with my job.
I love my job. I love the patients I see every day.
Steppin Out In Pink is a fund-raiser that the hospital and medical center I work at puts on. We are one of the top 3 Centers for Breast Care in the USA. Yup, right here in ol' Hicksville USA. All of the funds raised stay locally to fund the research that we do for breast cancer.
Please visit the below link for more information and if you are in Hicksville, come and Step out in pink with me!
Steppin Out In Pink

Writing

While stripping paint off of windows, we found some writing. I took one picture before we moved on, it was in an odd awkward place, and we're still trying to figure out what it says.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Things to do

While dear hubby and I are slowly working on the windows, I have a mental list of things I really want to get accomplished. Of course we have to go slow, work at our real jobs and do things as the budget allows.
1) Finish the bathroom floor/get new bathtub. Hopefully I can find a clawfoot one soon.
2) Remodel the kitchen/tear out a wall with lead in it. It's a 12x12 and the layout sucks. I have awesome oak cabinets, but the layout just plain is crap. There's this jut out island wannabe thing and the flow is just not good. Since I bake and cook a lot the kitchen is high on my list, and therefore dear hubby's, because he hears me complain. :-)
3) Pull up carpet/strip the orgiinal hardwood floors underneath.
4) Get rid of the 70s wallpaper and put up some wainscoting.
5) Strip paint of ALL the trim/invest in infrared paint stripper.....anyone have one I can borrow? :-)
6)Get fireplace functional.
7)Repoint front porch. We will probably have to have a mason rebuild it totally.
8) Replace all the windows.
9) Put an addition on the back of the house. This won't probably be until 4 years down the road.

Okay having a list makes me feel better, nothing more is really accomplished right now, but at least I feel better.
:-)

Craft time

Well summer time means more craft time. My mother is helping us out this summer and watching my daughter most days. So Nana has started craft time in the morning. This is the result of my 6 year old's latest efforts. They are kinda cute...don't ya think?

Flower pics

Sorry guys....I don't have a garden blog. Bet you wish I did!
:-)
Four pictures of my purple coneflowers in bloom. I just love them!

Salvia.

Then the guessing game on the next two. Anyone?

Of course there was a huge end of the season sale today on flowers....so that meant I had to get more. Which also meant I had to dig a bed for some sun perennials, because most of my darn yard is shade thanks to the 13 plus trees that I have. So I have a really really really sore back, 6 blisters and a tiny tiny tiny patch of dug up yard that will get at least 6 hours of sun! Yeah!
Oh and does anyone have a good homemade recipe on how to kill a black ant hill??????

If it's not one thing......

My refrigerator broke! YUP! BROKE! It started making a nice buzzing sound. Hmmm that's not good I said. So we defrosted it and now everything stays all warm inside. Of course it's 4 1/2 years old and we can't find the receipt since the move and we will have to pay everything to get it fixed....nice huh? At least we have an old refrigerator in the basement to put things. Even though it means 25 trips up and down the stairs for supper.
And the repair guy can't come until sometime after the 4th of July..........Must be a lot of broken down fridges out there.

Window progress

I know people often wonder if we actually work on the house. Well I tell you it's hard sometimes. I will try not to make too many excuses, but it's hard.
Well this weekend I have progress to show you!
Paint actual paint on windows!
Can you believe it?
Will wonders never cease?
How nice to do they look?
Then we have the back overhang. Man is that thing a monster to strip. We didn't strip what wasn't peeling. We probably should have and we probably will regret it. But that thing is a mess to strip.
Well, we still have about 17 windows, not including the basement ones to strip. And they all kinda look like this. We can't pry the storm window out of this piano window. The storm window was sealed in there probably 15 years ago. I don't know how to get it out. That is the original storm and the original window and glass. I don't want to break either. Any suggestions would be appreciated. My daughter's room is over the porch roof. I don't know how we're going to get the storms off of her windows either. Those things are in there tight.

Yup more garden pictures

Ok so with my back out I didn't get much accomplished, but here are some more of my garden pictures. I do love our backyard. Another unknown weed/plant.A baby bleeding heart. A neighbor gave me a root she couldn't grow, so I didn't have much hope for it, but I must have found the right shady spot for it. I don't know what the ground cover is though.....
An unknown climber that is planted at the base of a couple of trees. It has nice bright purple flowers.
Another unknown bush. I know they are popular around here though. I just don't know their proper name.

Plants Plants Plants

Well because I can't sleep, I'm going to post some plants pics....how's that?
Ok the funky tree has a name cutleaf stagehorn sumac...thank you Neil!

So let's start with the unknown ones. This one is another one that has been bugging me. I live in zone 4 remember. I swear it is bamboo. So does my neighbor, so I'm not nuts!

Ok then's this plant/weed.

And then this one I finally identified! Virginia Waterleaf, thank you very much! Of course now mine in not in bloom, but it has the most delicate little lavender flowers on it.

Last one, another unknown, I'm pretty sure they're a flower, just don't know which ones.

Thank you

Thank you dear husband for fixing the a/c. (I only had to threaten once to call the Standard Heating and A/C guy.) Now the upstairs is only a few degrees off instead, oh lets says 10-15. Man that was not fun. Summer in WI sucks. Winter in WI sucks. The only good seasons are spring and fall and they each last a month. :-)
15 years baby and we're moving. :-)
Thank you dear hubby! The children do not have to sleep neeked tonight!

Funky Tree

I'm not the most garden savy gal around...shocker, I know. So when we came upon this tree last fall I was stumped. (Heck the big ol' maple stumped but hey yea that's me.)
Anyway, it's really different.
Anyone??
Please?

Windows!

As most of you know stripping paint sucks. Lead paint really sucks. However it's a task that needed to be done. So dear hubby and rolled up our sleeves and tackled part of the windows. First we had to remove the storms. See the P.O.s had replaced the original windows in the 1980s I think. With what appears to be mail order Sears windows....nice.
They then realized the windows did not keep out the Wisconsin winters, so they put the storms back on. Actually they SEALED the storms back on. So we had to pry the storms off the windows first. (I almost fell out of our second story bedroom window.) We then realized we couldn't get all the windows done in 3 days. Especially the windows in my daughter's room. I have no idea how we are going to pry the storms off....but that's another post.
Anyway we got the storms off of 6 windows. Above is a before pic of the kitchen windows facing the back yard after the storm was removed.
So what did we use? Peel Away 1. Above is an after pic. We have neutralized twice and will touch up sand with a Hepa sander soon. Then we will paint!
Yippee!!!

Gardening Issues

Ok this weekend was not my best weekend. So what did I turn to, my garden. I re-arranged it about 5 times. It rained on and off so I wasn't able to take pics, because when it wasn't raining I was either up to my elbows in dirt or at the gardenfest.
But I am at a loss. Half of the things popping up I don't know what the heck they are. Are they weeds? Are they plants? Should I just let them all bloom? I dunno. Unless it's ragweed, burning nettle, dandelions, or thistles, man I'm stumped.
Next weekend hopefully it won't rain and dear hubby and I can take on the start of the window paint stripping project. That means these monstrous rose bushes I have on south side of the house will have to be trimmed way back. That should be fun.

Washer Woes

Well five loads of laundry and a suds soaked floor, that's what I found when I opened door number one. Couldn't shut the darn thing fast enough though.
When we bought our lovely house last fall, it came with probably one of the first front loading washers out there. I think the seal is toast on it. So dear hubby and I went out looking for a new one today.
I spent more today on a washer and dryer than I did on my first and second car. I chose not to go with a front loading washer again. I'm just too worried about that seal again, plus the one I got is HUGE. I can almost fit 2 king size comforters in there. (So this weekend when both dogs were sick would have been a really good time to have it.)
Anywho, it's to be delivered next Monday, I can hardly wait I think. I'm still kinda nauseous to have spent that much on a washer and dryer.

What no pics?

Ok, so some of you have asked me, what no pics of the kiddos? Nope.
See, I'm afraid of this monster. He has green eyes that glow in the night and he harms little children for fun. His name...pedophile. I'm ok with the fact some of you think I am completely over reacting. Really I'm fine with that. See I know some things you don't know. My dear hubby works long hours with those monsters at a prison. I know things not meant for you to know. I'm fine being an overly paranoid mom. It suits me right down to the ground, because in the end all it does is protects my children.
So no, I'm afraid there will be no pictures of children on this site. Just know they are adorable children and I love them dearly and will kill any monsters that dare hurt them, just like any good momma bear would.

Neighbors are nice

We moved here in Sept. My dear hubby was a long time member of another little town. He had been on the volunteer fire dept (does that tell you how small it is?) for over 13 years. My little girl had friends. It was hard to move in that respect.
It was an easy move in regards to the fact my parents, who are elderly, live in this small town. My stepson lives in this small town. This small town offers a much better school for my children, especially my son, who will really need a good school in a few years.
But you all know how it goes, keep in touch and you do, but it's harder to do. No more popping over for long talks while the kids swim or swing. No more just stopping by to say hi, hey want to stay for supper? (In our case no more feeding local law enforcement, luv you C!) Dear hubby joined this local volunteer fire department. (Yup another hick town.) So ties are starting to be established. Slowly.
We had a couple over the other night for supper. Nothing fancy. Burgers, corn, potato salad, pie. Now they brought rhubarb pie over. Rhubarb. Dear hubby loves rhubarb. I never make it. No real reason why. I love to cook and bake, I love to make things from scratch. But I never ever make rhubarb pie. Dear hubby was in heaven. Did I return an empty pie pan? I did not. In fact I kinda forgot to return the pan. In the meantime I was hit up for some of my chocolate cake for a firefighter fund raiser dinner. I found out the same couple kindly took my cake pan home with them and cleaned it. So I return a pie pan. With homemade chocolate pie to thank them.
I thought that was the end of the story. (Really I do know I ramble...sorry.)
But tonight as kiddos are getting ready to be tucked into bed, the doorbell rings. One basset house barks, one bichon yips, two parrots are screeching and one 2 yr old is screaming, door mamma! Thank you son, I hadn't noticed. Who would be at the door? Yup same person. She brought over dessert. Strawberry tarts.
I have a feeling this is going to be a long summer of dessert exchanges. I may have to get really creative........

No tub

Okay so many of you are dying in suspense....right?
No we didn't get the tub. I actually got out of the doctor's office rather quickly for a change and dear hubby got up and met me over at the ReStore.
Well it's a good thing I went and saw the darn thing. It needed a little work. The outside and feet looked like they would just crumble into a pile of dust at the slightest touch.
It was still hard to leave it though. I so want a clawfoot tub.
We brought my 2 1/2 yr old son with that day. Now the ReStore has a lot of funky stuff, but he was fasinated with the blue toilet.
"Mamma, mamma, mamma lookit, boo powtie!"
Whether that's due to the fact that we have recently started potty training or the fact he has never seen a colored toilet, he could hardly keep away from the blue potty. Everyone in the ReStore thought he was hysterical, well everyone but mom that is. I was too worried he was going to try out the blue potty.
Well anyway the search for the clawfoot tub continues....one of the patients at the clinic I work at suggested calling the plumbing places and asking that if they rip any out to throw away to call me......I just might do that...

Happy Mother's Day

Well these are my present! Aren't they awesome? I got a set of six! I love them! They will go great once my kitchen is done! :-) I just love love love them! And I got some plants to go in my lovely back yard. I may complain about our house, but our back yard rocks! The P.O.s really landscaped it nice. It just beckons to me.
Anyway Happy Mother's Day!

Clawfoot tub

So it's no surprise I want a clawfoot tub. Really it shouldn't come as a shock. My dear hubby and I passed one up about 2 months ago. We were 1 day late from getting almost a PERFECT one off of craiglist for...are you ready for this? $25!!!!!!!!! ARGHHHHH! I don't really care I far we would have had to drive to get it.
I've been searching high and low ever since. I've been hitting up patients at work, hey if you hear or see a clawfoot tub for sale, let me know! I've been accosting strangers at Menard's in the paint aisle. (Dear hubby shakes his head some more and walks slowly away from me, as not to draw attention to himself.) I chat up local tavern owners about clawfoot tubs used as props in their restaurant. Ya know...if you ever want to get rid of that...you just let me know, I live right over there............ I know I have it bad, but I hate our tub. I HATE IT.
So the point you might ask? While dear hubby was trying to get some sleep....thirds are hard on some people.... the ReStore people call. "Ya you put your name down on our wish list for a clawfoot tub. We got one in. Give us a call if you're still interested."
I had dear hubby calling the moment his eyes were open. The gentleman he spoke to said it was in near perfect condition and that they go fast. He suggested being there when they opened their doors at 10am on Wed, or call in on the phone and charge the tub.
Now the problem is this. Do we take the chance and buy the tub unseen at $175 over the phone? 10am to dear hubby is midnight to you and I, and dear hubby works 7 day stretches so I don't dare ask him to get up and do this for me. I will be at a doctor's appt for my father at 10am. (One that I really can't reschedule. Otherwise I WOULD!!) Or do I take the chance that at 11am they will still have the tub? I wonder how many other people they called?
What to do? What to do???????????

Exterior Window Stripping... on hold

Okay, our exterior windows are alligatoring, (is that a word?) I know they have lead paint on them. (Thank god most of the exterior is brick!) I had planned on using SoyGel on them, and let's just say that didn't go too hot. So I bought me some Peel Away 1. Just the thing for do it yourself lead abatement (by the way professionals are the way to go, do not try this yourself!) I have been itching to burn a hole in my finger or blind myself with the stuff, but with the wind being so strong these days, I'm waiting a tad.
I'm keeping the youngins from eating the dirt in the flower boxes, so I'm comfortable with this idea.
Once I start the project I'm sure I won't be quite so wordy...I'll probably be eating them.
(Never try lead abatement yourself. Always check your state laws. Get your kids tested for lead levels regularly.)

Gardening...what will pop up?

When we moved here in September things were just starting to die. We didn't really know what we had in the backyard except a lot of hostas. We have a lot of different ones. Below are a few I find particularly pretty.

Then we have this tree. It sits in the back corner of our lot. If I remember correctly this past fall the leaves were dark red. It looks like it's tipped over, but really it's not. It grows like that. (Please excuse the lovely patch of burning nettles, I just haven't gotten up the nerve to tackle them yet.) Does anyone know what this is?

MOLES!

I've had the week from Hades, but to top it all off today we discovered MOLES! GREAT!
FANTASTIC! Our lovely back yard it now a patch of nasty paths and sink holes. I guess tomorrow I will be hitting the feed store and seeing if they have choke traps.
Yippee!

Retro Lighting

Not being able to work outside this weekend despite the lovely weather has driven me nuts. We just need to let things dry out a tad first. So I'm looking around the house at what I can tackle on my own and within our budget. Then my eye spies our lighting. Our lovely retro lighting. Have you ever seen anything quite like this? I'm at a loss. Should I polish it up and keep it? Or donate it to ReStore?
Oh I forgot to mention....there's a matching one in the living room.

Meet the first babies

This isn't house related, but just as important. For those of you who don't know, these are my first babies. The renovation is probably the hardest on them.

The Shower Is In!

I got home from work yesterday and dear hubby had the shower in! That means no more showers in the basement for me!!!!!!!! I was so happy! Then this morning when the shower didn't leak into the kitchen ceiling I was even happier!
Now our bathroom is functional, thank goodness! We do have a narrow fit between the shower and the huge bathtub, but I have a shower!!!!!!!!!
View of shower from the doorway, do you like my towel rack? ;-)View of bathroom from the tub towards the door,
and towards the sink. Now we have to find medicine cabinets, lighting and decide on flooring.
I'm thinking of painting the vanity gold. Something funky. Maybe.