Thursday, November 12, 2009

Too much to do, not enough time

That's the excuse I'm giving for my current blog abandonment. School is really hard this year and I'm buried to my eyeballs in homework! I have an average of 2-3 hours of homework a night on top of all the normal stuff (like making dinner, laundry, cleaning) so there just hasn't been any time to do anything to the house. Which means nothing to blog about. The only thing I've done is pick a paint color for the bedroom, but I won't be able to actually paint until maybe Thanksgiving.

We do have some things planned though for when I can finally catch a break from school. We're going to be getting a new washer and dryer, tearing out some walls to insulate, and of course painting the bedroom. I decided on Valspar Silver Fox for the walls and Rising Tide for the ceiling. Silver Fox is a pretty blue-gray color (think blue sky with a storm coming in) and Rising tide is a really light grayish blue color that looks great with the main color. We have to get a new washer and dryer because our 15 year old set is quickly dying...3 hours to do one load of laundry is a bit ridiculous! It's taking that long because the washer is having a hard time spinning the water out and the dryer isn't getting hot (high is now almost the same as low). And we are NOT tearing out plaster walls to insulate, we're tearing out the plywood walls in the laundry room.

And I haven't forgotten to post the pictures of the closet transformation...just haven't had time, but I still plan to put them up sometime, probably Thanksgiving break.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Closet is done!!!

I actually finished last Wednesday, but I watched my little cousin Thursday and Friday so I was busy at the movies, pool, river, playing Wii and wherever else she wanted to go for those days. Anyway, back to the closet...it was a pain to get it in but we finally got it and I love it! It's designed for a closet that's 5'-8' and a standard height of at least 7'. Our closet is 6' 8" and about 6' 5' tall. I had to cut a little over 6" off the support posts, and drill new holes in the posts for the clips. I also had to eliminate a shelf since there just wasn't room for it. We also couldn't use the hanger bars so the hangers are hanging from the rack. If we used the bars the clothes would be dragging the floor which is not good. Another problem was the ends of the racks. There's supposed to be brackets mounted to the side walls, which we can't do since the chimney is on one end and the boards are so thin on the other end the screws would've gone straight though. So we took 2x4's and cut them down to the width of the closet and used wood screws to mount them to the closet frame and the shelves are sitting on the 2x4's. Yet another problem was the crumbling skim coat on the plaster. It was worth is though because I now have a ton more storage than I did and at least 3' more hanging space! I'm working on getting everything back in and figuring out how I want everything be. Once I get it all organized I'll post before and after pictures.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Closet System

I have decided to go against keeping our victorian closet all original. I just can't handle a single pole any more. I have been looking at closet systems for a long time but couldn't afford one. I was in WalMart Friday and saw a Closet Maid system on clearance for $40! I just let it be and figured James would never let me have it, even at that price. Well, I told him about it Saturday night and he reluctantly said I could have it!

So now I have it, the closet is empty and just cleaned. I'm waiting for the wood to dry so I can start. I'll post all the pictures later today after it's all done. Well, I should say if it's all done today, if not then it'll be tomorrow. I have to modify some things because it's for a 5'-8' closet that's a standard height. Our closet is a little over 6' (waiting for things to dry so I can measure) which is no problem. It's only about 6' tall, which is a problem, so I have to break out tools to cut the supports so it'll fit. Should be fun!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Stupid Cable Company

It's been awhile since my last post. There's not much going on here because school is taking priority right now. I officially made the deans list again. I have one more week of clinicals and then I will be able to get back to work on the dining room and bathroom restoration/remodel....the dining room is a restoration, bathroom a remodel. Classes start again in the middle of August, so I have to get most of it done before then or it won't be done for another year.


We got home Thursday and there were two green pipes sticking up in our yard, and there was spray paint all over the grass and deep ruts all over the side yard. We were a little confused about what was going on so I asked the neighbor. She hadn't seen anything because she hadn't been home. But she did say that our local cable company is going to be burying their cable line so that's probably what it's for. So Friday I tried calling the cable company and I got a whole lot of answers I didn't like such as "we may be burying lines, but if you don't have cable we don't have to tell you" and "we don't have to notify you that we're going to be using your property for our use if you are not a cable customer." All this did was irritate me even more, so I went into the local store and talked to a receptionist. Actually I kind of yelled and bitched a little bit at a receptionist. She took it well, and apologized, then took my name and number and a supervisor will be calling me Monday. I can't wait. If they don't fix what they did and compensate for it somehow, I will be contacting some one with a little more authority to find out what to do. Hopefully it's all resolved tomorrow.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Car for Sale

I hate to see it go, but I have decided to sell my Kia Sportage. I don't really drive it much any more, so it's better to sell it to some one who can get some use out of it.

It's cute, isn't it? I hate to sell it...I love driving it, but it's not doing much good sitting around and I really need the money more than I do another car taking up space (we have 7 right now including this one). It'll make a nice cheap car for some one.

If any one out there in blogger land is interested in buying a car I'm only asking $3,500 and the book value is over $4,000 so it's a great deal! It's a 2001 with around 81,000 miles, 5sp, 4wd, alarm, about as loaded as a Kia gets and top is in excellent condition with no leaks and easy to remove. Really fun to drive!

That's all of my shameless advertising for the day.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

When It Rains, It Pours

I am once again blogging after a long relapse. Its not that there's nothing going on here, its that there's too much going on and pretty much none of it is house related. And none of its good.

I am going to be unemployed at the end of May. For the second time I am working at a K Mart store that is closing. Our last day is tentatively set for May 24. I worked at Princeton K Mart and they closed, so I swore I'd never work for K Mart again. I went to work at the one here in Vincennes last May, and now, not even a year later, they are also closing. That's 7 total years of my life I will never get back.

To add to that, my throw out bearing is going out in my car so I'm putting a new clutch in (it doesn't really need the clutch, but there's 80,000 miles on it, I've only had it for 5,000 miles, so we figured it'd be best to replace it now) and shifter that will work better with the new clutch. I also had to have more brake work done. James got a new truck. Its a diesel and he had to put a new thermostat and oil pressure gauge it, which somehow caused the radiator to spring a leak, which cost over $400.

We're getting a new (used) fridge this weekend. James parents got a new one and we get their old one, which is actually better than the one we have now. Bad news is James wants to drill a hole in the hardwood floor in the kitchen for the ice maker. I told him no because when we gut the kitchen it's not staying there. He said the kitchen won't be redone for a few years so we'll just fill the hole in later if the fridge ends up somewhere else :(

I got overcharged at Kohl's the other day. The cashier didn't give me a receipt though so I'm just out the 20 some dollars.

I have an "emergency" doctors appointment later today. I have a skin problem that looks like blood spots on my skin but its not bleeding, and its been going on for over a year but has gotten worse in the last three weeks so they wanted me in ASAP.

Most likely nothing will be done to the house till this summer. Instead of being "house broke" like many housebloggers are, we are "car broke". All our money has been poured into our cars to keep them going. For what we've put into them we could have finished the dining room and almost finished the bathroom.

Like I said: when it rains, it pours. One bad thing after another.

The only good news: I'm on spring break. No classes this week. My midterm grades are in and they're all good. Oh, and I just started the third book in the twilight series which took me forever to find because they're still selling out as fast as stores get them in. Now I have to find the fourth one.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Snow Pictures

We have a ton of snow here in Southern Indiana, but thankfully we're far enough north that we didn't get the 3" of ice that every one to our south got. We just have a foot of snow. We still have power and the highways are clear now.

I couldn't go to my class today though because of this...
It doesn't really look that bad from this picture, but that is a Mustang (which sits low to the ground) and that is a two foot wall of snow in the background from the plows going down the highway. James four wheel drive made it, but there is no hope for my car moving today.

This is our backyard today. And this is after the melting that happened yesterday.

James tried to move his mom's car yesterday to the part of their driveway that had been plowed. That is about 12" of solid snow and ice sitting on the hood. He didn't make it far.


This was what happened yesterday when I let Sox out. He fell through the snow (which was taller than him), made it under the truck and sat down. I don't think he liked it.
James has to shovel the driveway when he gets home today so I can get out tomorrow. That sucks for him. And the news said we're going to get another inch or so tonight. Great.
If I actually make it outside today I'll probably post more pictures later today.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Antique Curio Cabinet Pictures

I have some pictures today. It's the cabinet I got for Christmas! (Please ignore the mess around it)

There are glass shelves that go in it and it has lights in the top that were added a few years ago. Not really sure if they're going to stay or not.


The pretty handle



Just a little bit of the antique glass that came with it. There are 3 boxes all together, and it's almost all antique and it belong to James grandma and great grandma. I haven't been through all the boxes yet, but so far I've found cobalt, green, and milk glass, and several old (1800's) medicine bottles and jars and cooking bottles (oil, seasonings, spices). I also saw some silver teapot shaped place card holders, some really old Christmas decorations, and a ton of glass ashtrays.


I'm going to stain it the same dark red-brown I used on the mirror. You can't really tell from the pictures, but it does need to be refinished...there's some wear on the corners. And it doesn't match the dark wood that we have all through the house.
I would have pictures of the garage, but it's been snowing and sleeting today on top of cold and windy. And I'm a baby so I'm not going out there. Hopefully I'll have them next time

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Quick Update

I'm a little behind on posting, so there will probably be several posts over the next few days. I hadn't realized that it has been nearly two months since my last post so there's a lot of catching up. Things have been a little busy here. I am between classes at school right now so I don't have my camera which means no pictures right now. But they're coming.

Since my last post James got the garage cleaned up and installed a woodburner in there so he can be warm while working on cars when it's around zero degrees out (like it has been lately). He's also been slaving away at my moms truck when he hasn't been sick.

Not much has been going on inside the house though. I didn't get the dining room done cause I was working so hard on finals I kinda forgot about it. It paid off though, I just found out I made the deans list!! But we didn't have dinner here this year. Maybe I'll get it done by next year. Actually I'm hoping we have it done by next year cause I don't think I can look at it in the state it's in for another year.

For Christmas I got an antique curio cabinet that I think originally belong to James grandma, although his parents bought it for me from his uncles dad, and it came with a lot of antique glass, buttons and thimbles that had belonged to his grandma and great grandma. As soon as it gets warm out I'm going to refinish it and I think it's going to go in the living room until I decide where I want it to stay permanently.


School has started again so that and work and playing Wii Fit (I also got a Wii and Wii Fit for Christmas) and cleaning and playing more Wii and homework are about all I've been doing.


I'll be posting pictures of the woodburner, the clean garage (which is like a miracle...it was a disaster), and the cabinet before too long