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?